Secert life of a Foster girl
by Bri White
Summary: A Fosters fanfic written by me and Learn2Live, featuring our two oc's! Lena falls in love with the quiet girl in her class, and tries to help her,without realizing the timid girl from school is already friends with her newest daughter and trying to help her with her own mental health issues (I promise it's better than the summary) Check it out and read past chapter one please!
1. Chapter 1

**We do not own the Foster, although we wished that we did. **

"Good morning Bell," Lena said as she walked up to the young girl, unlocking the classroom door for the day.

""Hi, Mrs. Adams Foster." Bell quietly whispered looking up, letting her hands uncleanch from fists and relax for just a moment as she looked around the hallway and didn't see anyone that would be a threat.

"How was your weekend?" Lena asked, she tried to get the girl to talk but Bell was always so quiet that she didn't take offense or worry much when Bell just smiled and whispered her answer before taking her seat and pulling out her notes to review before the bell rang.

Lena had been subbing in the class for a few weeks now since the regular teacher had to call out for a family emergency, Lena loved interacting with the kids so she didn't mind. Looking at the clock, Lena realized that Bell was at school almost fifteen minutes early, "You didn't go to the morning pep rally?"

Bell looked up from her notes and shook her head no, once, "It's too loud. Plus there would be to many people."

Lena couldn't help but laugh, she had been relieved to find out enough teachers were going that she didn't have to go to the six am pep rally, homecoming week was exhausting enough without two pep rallies in one day. "You can still go down now, if you would like."

Bell shook her head and then looked down at her notes, "Oh. I was hoping it would be alright to stay in here, but I can go if it's not."

Lena shook her head, quickly realizing she had made the timid girl uncomfortable, "Oh no, honey, it's completely okay for you to stay in the classroom."

Once Bell had relaxed again, her body visibly not as tense, Lena started on work of her own, playing music to fill the empty, silent room. After a couple of minutes, Lena looked up to notice Bell mouthing the words along to the song on the radio while scratching at her arm and looking down at the same notes she had been studying ten minutes earlier, to Lena it was clear that the girl was stressing but she didn't want to startle Bell, so Lena continued to watch as Bell scratched at the skin on her hand until it was red and raw, and watched as Bell, carefully did not lift her sleeve but scratched at her arm for some time also.

"I'll be right back," Lena stated when she stood to get something off the printer, she couldn't tell why but she was drawn to the young girl, Lena wanted nothing more than to just get Bell to talk to her, to trust her. When Lena reentered the room, she noticed that Bell was staring at her phone and quietly singing along to the song still playing from the computer.

"Oh." Bell said, when she noticed Lena staring at her grinning at her phone, "It's just a gir... friend." Bell finished quickly and put her phone away and stopped singing along as she went back to studying.

Lena wanted to find some way to help Bell, find her a friend, or to find out why she was scratching at her own skin so much, but didn't know quite where to start, and before Lena could figure it out, her class was starting.

After the class, which Bell hadn't said a single word to any of her classmates during, Lena noticed Bell lingering behind and packing another binder into her already oversized bag.

"Sweetheart, what is with that bag? You're going to fall right over with that on your shoulder." Lena said, the bag easily had everything Bell needed for the day, if not more.

"Oh,yeah."Bell adjusted the bag on her shoulder and then laughed, "It's all the books and binders I need for the day. I don't go to my locker." Bell looked down at the floor, ashamed that she was already trusting her teacher, knowing she couldn't, "I don't even know where my locker is."

"Here, I can find out for you." Lena said about to write herself a note before Bell almost disappeared from the room.

"Don't worry about it. I won't use it anyways." Bell whispered and just smiled at Lena, "Bye Mrs. Adams Foster, thanks though."

Lena sat there trying to figure out how to help, she hated seeing her students like this, even more so now that she had kids the same age as her students, knowing that teenagers should just be able to feel safe.


	2. Chapter 2

Bell ducked her head and went down an empty hallway before walking to lunch, beating herself up for talking to Lena, "Just because I can trust her daughter doesn't mean I can trust her. Stupid." She kept muttering until she ran into her friend.

"Hey Bell, you ready for Lunch? Are you okay?" Aria asked her friend noticing that something was off with her.

"Yeah, fine. I just had class with your mom." Bell laughed awkwardly, "That was kinda awkward..." She stopped mid sentence realizing how weird she must be sounding.

"Hey, think how I must feel! I have my mo... I have her teaching me, it's so awkward, its not even funny" Aria said trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah well, sucks for you." Bell teased, smiling slightly, "Shit. Look out, mother alert." Bell looked around trying to find a place to hide.

"Fuck" Aria said as she lightly pushed Bell into the bathroom.

"Hey Aria" Lena said.

"Ummm, Hi Lena" Aria said as she tried to think of a good excuse on why she wasn't at lunch after only a yogurt for breakfast.

"Why aren't you outside eating lunch with the other kids?" Lena asked as she started leading her to her office so they could talk.

"I just don't feel like eating outside" Aria said. "I was just gonna eat, just not outside" She quickly added as soon as she realized where her mom was taking her.

"And now you are going to be eating in my office with me today" Lena said as they approached their office.

"Okay" Aria agreed realizing the quicker she got this over with the quicker she would get out of there and be able to see her friends again.

"Mom is going to be joining us as well" Lena added as soon as she opened the door to her office.

"Hi Aria, What are you doing here?" Stef asked her daughter as she came and sat down next to her.

"Lena wanted me to come here for some reason" Aria answered.

"Mom and I wanted to talk to you about a few things, one is you skipping breakfast and now trying to skip lunch" Lena said as she sat down next to Aria.

"What about eating thing? I mean I had something for dinner and breakfast" Aria said.

"You had an apple for dinner and a yogurt for lunch. There's no way that you can that, that's considered eating enough." Stef's tone revealed her inner aggravation. "You cannot honestly tell me that you've been eating if an apple and yogurt is your main meals."

"To be fair, thats what my diet was when Callie was in juvie and would not jump down my throat for not eating" Aria said trying to defend herself. "And the way I see it, as long as I don't go 36 hours without eating again i'm fine" She added.

"To be fair," Stef said mimicking, "when Callie was in juvie and you were in a different foster home who didn't care, isn't a good example."

Shocked, Lena jumped in before Stef could say anything that would make the situation worse, "Stefanie! That's enough!" Lena shot her wife a look that made Stef realize she had crossed a line, and would hear about it later. Lena turned her attention back to her daughter, "Love, we don't want you to feel like we're jumping down your throat, we just want to make sure you're eating enough for your body to stay healthy. And we're worried about why you're not eating..." Lena didn't directly ask her daughter the question but the lack of an ending to her sentence was a question enough.

"I have eaten less and have been fine" Aria said wishing that the lunch period would end already and this conversation would be over.

Lena placed her hand on her daughter's knee, hoping that she would somehow get Aria to talk to her. "Is there anything going on? Any reason why you're not hungry lately." Before she gave enough time for Aria to answer, Lena spoke again, "Love, please talk to us, we just want to make sure you're okay..." Before Lena could finish or Aria could answer, the bell dismissing lunch rang.

"As much as I would love to continue this conversation" Aria started sarcastically as she got up and headed for the door " I have to get to gym" She finished as she ran out before her moms could stop her, not caring that she might get in trouble later on for leaving right away with permission.

"Hey Bell, sorry I ditched you at lunch" Aria said as she caught up wit her friend in gym.

"What happened?!" Bell was worried when Aria wasn't in the hallway after she had heard Lena walk off, and then when Aria didn't show up for the rest of the lunch period, "Did she see us?"

"No, but Stef was there and they started talking to me about my eating habits... I might of ran out of the office as soon as the bell rang...shit... I just remember how much Stef hates when we leave when they are in the middle of talking to us...how much trouble do you think I will be in?" Aria explained to her friend the jist of what happened in Lena's office.

"And what did you tell them?" Bell avoided the question about how much trouble her friend was going to get into, because from what she had heard about Stef, Aria was going to be grounded forever, "Did you actually tell them why you haven't been eating?"

"How much trouble do you think I am gonna be in?" Aria asked again before continuing "And how stupid do you think I am. I avoiding answering as much as possible."

"Well. Hopefully Callie can talk them out of grounding you for a month?" Bell tried to joke, but there was a lot of truth to the statement, "Maybe if you make something up and go talk to them now, and apologize to Stef she'll let you off easy with only being in trouble for a week or two?" Bell tried suggesting.

"If you didn't realize, we are in class and stef went back to work." Aria said. "I am fucking screwed" She added.

"Well," Bell thought, there really wasn't a way Aria was going to win from this situation, "Maybe the real problem you should focus on is how you're going to get them to stop worrying about you not eating?"

"Yeah, I mean I can always sneak out if I get grounded" Aria said already forming a plan in her head.

"With a mom as a cop?" Bell raised her eyebrows, "Damn, you've got some guts. Just don't get yourself into too much trouble, more trouble means more attention which means your moms will notice more things you've been keeping secret."

"Fuck, youre right!" Aria said. "I will just say that I really didn't want to miss gym and that I had to get changed." She added.

A little while later gym was over and it was time for Aria to go home and face the music...or yelling... whatever happened.

"Why are both our moms home?" Brandon asked as he and his siblings walked up to the house.

"I have no idea" Callie said as the other agreed. Aria just kept quiet.

"Hello my Babies" Stef said as soon as they walked through the door.

"Hi mom, Hi Momma!" The kids coursed.

"Do you think you guys could go to a movie and out to dinner tonight, like right now, while we talk to Aria for a bit?" Stef asked as she gave Brandon some money.

"Umm sure" Brandon said confused as he lead Jesus and Mariana out of the room.

"Callie, Sweets, she will be fine, Momma and I just want to talk to her alone for a bit" Stef said trying to reassure her that Aria would be in good hands. After a bit more persuading on Stef and Lena's part Callie finally joined the rest of the kids.

"Lets go into the living room to talk, yes?" Stef said as she lead Lena and a reluctant Aria into the living room. When they got there Aria sat in the middle of the couch with her moms on either side of her looking at her for a hint of what might be going on in their daughter mind.

"I guess we'll start then," Stef tried to joke to lighten the mood after a minute of silence, she felt really bad about what she had said earlier to Aria, "Why don't we talk about lunch today. Aria, love, you know the rules, none of you kids are allowed to just run away when you momma and I are talking to you, you know this, yes?"

"You see, I really had to get to gym and I didn't want to be late because you know how you have to change and everything" Aria tried. Hoping and praying that they would buy it.

"Really?" Stef raised an eyebrow at her daughter, her kids had tried to pull a lot over her through the years, but by now she expected a bit more of a story, "That's not an excuse, you know the rules and that is that you can't just walk away when we're talking. We'll let it slip this time, but don't think you can get away with it again. And don't tell your siblings because I don't want to have to hear about how I let you get away with it." Stef smiled again, trying to comfort her daughter.

"I won't, Thank you" Aria said gratefully. "Is that all" Aria asked hoping that there was not going to be a continuation of the lunch conversation. Luckily it seemed like to her that with all the talk they didn't realize that she didn't eat a thing.

"We still need to finish our conversation from lunch," Lena said softly,

"Damn it" Aria whispered to herself.

"Language," Lena warned but she didn't want to harp on it, she needed her daughter in the best mood possible while they were talking.

"It's not that bad of a word, I have said so much worse" Aria said trying to distract her moms from the looming conversation ahead.

Both women let it slide that their daughter was arguing with them, understanding that sarcasm was her way of dealing with difficult issues.

"You done yet?" Stef asked before continuing on.

"Done with what?" Aria asked. If her moms we're going to make her talk about this, she sure as hell wouldn't make it easy for them.

"Why are you skipping meals." Stef asked flat out, tired of the games her teenage daughter thought she could get away with.

"I am not skipping meals, Skipping meals would be me eating nothing at a meal, but you won't let me get away with that so I eat something, so that is technically not skipping a meal" Aria tried to reason, as she felt herself slowly shutting down.

"Fine." Stef sighed, "Why are you eating less, or in smaller amounts, smart ass."

Lena shot Stef a look, "Language?" She tried to scold again but from the lack of effort put into the scolding everyone could tell Lena knew she was fighting a losing battle when it came to swearing.

"I really don't know what you are talking about" Aria said, determined not to make this easy for her moms.

"This is going to be a lot easier for all of us if you just tell us one thing. Give us just a bit of information about what's going on, what has been going on since you got adopted, and we won't have to stay up the entire night, trying to get you to talk." Stef sighed, clearly exhausted, and clearly hurt that her daughter didn't trust her enough to talk about her feelings.

"There is nothing going on with me" Aria tried to say, this time all the emotion was gone from her voice. She could feel the depression swallowing her into a world of misery.

"You haven't made very many friends at school love," Lena tried to change the subject, maybe then Aria would talk a bit more, "You don't eat very much anymore. And you're even more sarcastic than your mom. We're just worried, we just want to help."

"I'm fine" Aria said in the same monotone voice with no emotion as before. "I can take care of myself" She added.

"We know you can take care of yourself, you and Callie have been taking care of yourselves for years, but you have a family now. We're your moms, it's our job to take care of you, we promised the courts when we adopted you, but more importantly it was a promise to you. And by allowing us to adopt you, you made a promise to try and let us help you."

"I am, I just don't need help with this" Aria said taking out her phone as she put one earbud in, as an attempt to block out the world.

"Aria. We let you get away with it once." Stef stated, "Trying to get out of talking again, is just going to get you into trouble."

"Okay" Aria said simply not caring anymore.

"Just tell us one thing," Lena pleaded, "One thing you've been thinking about and we'll stop nagging you for tonight."

"Depression" Aria stated simply.

Stef and Lena exchanged a glance, they were expecting something bad, but at the same time weren't entirely sure what they had been expecting.

"I told you one thing, now can you guys please leave the fucking hell alone?" Aria asked not caring about her language. All she could think about was how much she wanted to be alone.

"Uh," Lena paused, she went numb, how could she help her hurting daughter who didn't want to be helped, "Why don't you go to bed, we can talk more in the morning, okay love?"

"Whatever" Aria said as she put in her other earbud, blared the music as high as it could go and went to bed.

"We love you, Aria." Stef whispered as she watched her daughter storm out of the room. Stef and Lena stayed up for several hours later talking about what had been going on with their daughter and how they would be able to help her through it.


	3. Chapter 3

"Good morning Bell." Lena smiled half heartedly as she walked up to unlock the classroom door for the girl standing there, as she had done many other mornings.

"Good morning Mrs. Adams Foster." Bell said a little louder than she normally did, she was almost speaking in a normal tone of voice, receiving Lena's attention.

When the two entered the classroom, they settled into the normal routine, it was almost comfortable for them both, but Bell interrupted the silence.

"Is everything alright?" She asked quietly, looking at Lena. Lena looked exhausted, bags under her eyes and she had just been staring off in space for a few minutes, Bell knew when she hadn't heard from Aria it must have been a difficult night, but she hadn't expected Lena to look this affected by it.

Lena looked over at the teenage girl, "Yeah, I'm alright sweetie." She lied, "I'm gonna go to the teacher's room and get some tea before the class starts, be right back."

Bell nodded quietly, she could tell Lena wasn't fine, and that made her worry even more about Aria. She pulled out her phone to text her friend, "Hurry and come to your mom's classroom, she's not in the room. Need to talk."

As soon as Aria got the text she ran out of study hall and was there in a second to talk to her friend. "What's up?" She asked.

"What happened last night?!" Bell had to refrain herself from yelling, "You're mother looks like shit, and I haven't heard from you all night."

"I might have let it slip about the depression after hours of them trying to get me to talk. I completely shut down, there was no emotion in my voice, I was rude, I just didn't care anymore" Aria said as she explained what has happened that night. "I didn't tell them about the eating thing though" She quickly added.

"Oh," Bell was stunned, she hadn't expected Aria to give in that easily and tell her moms, "How did they react?"

"There was no way out of it. And I might have told them that I told them one thing like they asked and then asked if they could leave me the fucking hell alone" Aria replied.

"I haven't even met Stef, but from what I've been told, I have no idea how you got away with it." Bell paused and looked at her friend, Aria looked just as tired, if not worse, than Lena. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fan-fucking-tastic" Aria said. "And I think Stef was just glad that I actually told them something." She added trying to find some comfort in the presence of her friend.

"Glad to see you haven't lost that sense of humor you always have," Bell rolled her eyes, looking at Aria, Bell could tell she wasn't okay, her eyes lacked the same snarky fire they had when the two girls had first become friends, "Maybe you should go, your mom is going to be back soon, we don't want her catching you hanging out with the quiet girl who is failing her class, then she'll just start asking even more questions. Talk later?" Bell smiled weakly as her friend nodded and started off towards the door, "Wait. Aria, use the back door, otherwise your mom is going to see you."

Lena had been standing outside the classroom door for just a moment, she hadn't meant to eavesdrop but she was curious when she heard Bell's voice in the classroom talking to someone else, she only caught the last bit of conversation, enough to hear Bell talking about failing her class, and for Bell to say her daughter's name, Aria's name.

Once Lena heard the back door to the classroom open and quietly she entered the classroom trying to look normal and not draw Bell's attention.

"Uh, Bell," Lena said softly as she grabbed her grade book of her desk and walked over to the empty seat next to the young girl, "I've actually been wanting to talk to you about something." Lena sat down and noticed Bell's head immediately dropped, the young girl keeping her eyes on the ground and pulling at her sleeve.

"Mhm." Bell whispered, barely audible.

Lena turned a bit to face Bell, hoping it would make Bell more comfortable with the situation,"Do you know how you're doing in this class?"

Bell nodded slightly, "Yeah. Sorry but it's not a big deal."

"Well you do really well on everything but tests, I was thinking, it may benefit you if you were to stay after and we could find a tutor to go over notes for the tests." Lena offered, she secretly wanted it as a way to get the girl to trust her and for Lena to see why Bell was always so quiet and protected.

"Sure." Bell hesitated, "I'll just have to check with Ar..." She stopped herself, Aria, she wanted to say. I just have to check if your daughter, who I'm friends with, but you don't know that is okay with it. "With a parent. To make sure it's okay." She tried to cover up her mistake. Bell knew she would have to find a way out of it, and knew Aria would be the person she could ask for advice on how.

For the entire eighty minutes of the class Bell couldn't keep from looking at the clock every two minutes, and not without Lena noticing. Bell just wanted to get out of the class, she could feel Lena watching her every move after the little chat they had. As soon as the bell dismissing class rang, Bell was one of the first students to stand up, she was about to run out the door when Lena stopped her, "Bell? Could you at least think about it? I know you're a bright kid."

Bell couldn't help but roll her eyes as she turned around and left the room, pulling out her phone, she needed to talk to Aria. "Empty art hallway, NOW." She sent and quickly ran down the stairs towards the art hall.

"Hi." Bell said quickly as she ran towards her friend.

"Are you okay?" Aria asked as she hugged her friend.

"Your mom. She knows something. When you told her about the depression, did you tell her anything, else?" Bell got quiet as she spoke.

"No, I just told her about the depression and got the hell out of there" Aria said clearly confused.

"Once you left, right in time by the way, your mom came into the classroom and started talking to me about grades and how I'm failing and everything and suggested I stay after for her to tutor, she seemed like she was fishing for information." Bell sighed, she hoped Lena had been fishing and didn't already know anything, "How do I get out of the tutoring thing, because that's going to be extremely awkward"

"Um, say that you have to babysit every single day after school" Aria suggested. "And I didn't tell them anything" She added.

"Maybe you should," Bell suggested, "I mean then, your moms wouldn't worry so much because you would have a friend. And Lena could stop trying to act all mother to me. I don't understand why you have to keep it secret that we're friends." Bell whispered.

"What would Callie say? I mean, I don't want her to think that you are bad influence on my, I mean her opinion means the most to me and if she doesn't like you then I will be hearing about it" Aria responded. "I'm just scared. It has always been just me and her and I don't want her to think that I am trying to replace her" she quickly added.

"Yeah." Bell sighed defeated, "If you're okay with it, I think I'm going to take your mother up on her offer. Don't worry I won't tell her anything, but I do need to pass history."

"I'm fine with it, and you can tell her. I just don't know how I would go about doing that" Aria responded glad that her friend was gonna be taking her mom up on her offer.

"Do you think, your moms are going to tell Callie about your talk last night?"

"I don't know, I mean this morning they told me that they wanted me to come and eat lunch with them again" Aria said. "I really hope not. callie knows about the depression but she doesn't know how bad it can get" Aria added as she and Bell started making their way to their math class that they had together.

"Maybe you could tell them, and ask them not to tell Callie?" Bell suggested, she hated seeing her friend hurting, and if Bell trusted Lena, she didn't see why Aria couldn't.

"I just don't know how I would tell them, and I don't even know what they are gonna talk to me about at lunch today either." Aria said as they made their way into the classroom and sat in the back like always.

"We'll figure out something, for the next hour, the only thing we have to worry about is the hell they call Algebra." Bell said clearly not please to be in math already, especially when she had more important problems to solve than the ones on the board with x's in them.

"Yeah I just wished that Lunch didn't follow math" Aria said.

"I know. But I mean, the worst is already over right? You've already told your moms one bad thing." Bell tried to comfort her friend.

"Now it is going to be like 20 questions and I will never be alone" Aria said.

"Maybe they won't overreact, I mean, Lena's a teacher. There's no way she's never dealt with depressed teenagers before." Bell saw her friend was starting to distance herself, "Say, do you wanna risk it and just ditch for a class, have a few minutes of peace before the questioning begins?"

"Yes" Aria said not caring that the teacher was going to tell Lena and that she was going to get grounded until she was 30.

"Where to?" Bell asked as the two girls ran out onto the beach, hoping to be out of sight of anyone at the school.

"The beach?" Aria asked.

"Okay." Bell gestured for Aria to lead the way, "Lead the way."

Aria lead Bell to the spot right under the lifeguard's chair where they could watch the ocean without being seen by anyone. "This is my favorite spot to go" Aria said as she and Bell sat down.

"Do you ditch a lot?" Bell was surprised that Aria had a spot, she couldn't imagine, a principal and a cop as moms and still just disappearing sometimes.

"I use to run hear all the time in my other foster homes. It was the only place where I would get peace and quiet. I ditched once and Stef and Lena grounded me for a month" Aria explained.

"What's it like anyways," Bell asked looking out towards the water, "The foster system."

"Every home is different. You never know what form of abuse you are going to get, whether it be physical, mental, or negligent it still hurts all the same. You learn not to trust people, Until I got placed with the fosters the only thing close to a mom I had was my sister who is just a few years older than I am. I have learned to keep quiet about everything and only speak when necessary. I have basically learned that to survive you need to fly under the radar of life. You don't want to stick out, you just want to get by without attracting attention to yourself." Aria said as she too looked out at the ocean mesmerized by it beauty.

"Do you trust the Fosters?" It was something Bell had been wondering for some time, especially every time Aria would refer to her moms as Stef and Lena, or them. Never using the word moms.

"Yeah, I am still learning how to trust though. It's just hard." Aria responded glad that her friend suggested ditching no matter how much trouble she will get in.

"Do you trust me," Bell asked, almost dreading the answer, "Just a tiny bit?"

"I trust you with my life" Aria answered.

"Then do me a favor. Leave your phone and everything here. Just for a minute, and then follow me." Bell said grinning checking the time, she knew her friend needed to calm down before having to talk to her moms. Bell started jogging towards the water.

"Okay" Aria said as she shut off her phone and followed her friend.

"Okay. Close your eyes." Bell could barely contain her laughter, "And just listen to the ocean. Try and relax a bit."

"Okay" Aria said doing as she was told. She started to relax tremendously.

Bell couldn't help but smile at her friend, Aria looked at peace. "I hate to ruin this but..." Bell laughed as she tripped Aria into a wave, "You needed to laugh, you were way too worried about everything" Bell grinned evilly at her friend, "sorry" Bella tried to say innocently between bursts of laughter.

"Im gonna get you back, you bitch" Aria screamed jokingly as she tackled her friend into another wave. Her problems momentary slipping her mind.

"Feeling any better?" Bell asked after she resurfaced, and pulled a piece of seaweed out of her hair.

"Tons!" Aria said laughing at her friends seaweed hair, silently wishing that this moment never had to end.

"Anything I can do to help when you talk to your moms in a few minutes?" Bell asked starting to walk back towards the school.

"I really don't know. I mean as soon as they found out that I skipped class I am going to be in even more trouble" Aria said solemnly.

"Blame me." Bell said, seriously, "Besides parents love me, I can talk my way out of it."

"I would love to see Stef reaction when I said that my friend made me skip class" Aria laughed as she lightly pushed her friend.

"Oh come on! She's gonna love me one day. Besides, every cop's kid needs a trouble maker friend." Bell joked trying to keep the mood happy before Aria noticed they were almost to Lena's office.

"Yes, they will totally love a girl who made me skip class and I think I get into enough trouble without you" Aria joked. "I mean come on, I have told you how sarcastic I can be. I'm surprised that I am not already grounded until the day I die!" she added.

Bell stopped in front of Lena's office, "Good luck. And a word of advice, don't be to sarcastic?"

"How am I gonna explain why I am all wet?" Aria asked. "And you do realize who you are talking to right?"

"Oh right, come on, did you expect me to think this far ahead?" Bell stuck her tongue out at her friend.

"Yes, yes I did quite frankly" Aria said as soon as Lena opened the door to see the two trouble makers.

"Here I brought extra gym clothes," Bell said throwing a bag at Aria, "sorry" She whispered running off as Lena looked at her.

As Bell was running down the hallway and looking back to see if Lena was still watching her, she ran straight into a blond woman. "Oh hi, I'm really really sorry." She whispered as she tensed up.

"It's alright sweetie," Stef replied seeing the girl start to tense, but before she could say anymore the girl had run off again, Stef would have to ask her kids if any of them knew her later.

As Aria witnessed all she she just had one thought cross her mind which she whispered to herself. "Fuck, I'm fucking screwed"

"Aria?" Lena questioned, she didn't even know what to ask. "Weren't you supposed to be in math?" Lena sighed before her daughter could even answer, "So was that someone I might know that ran off when I opened the door?

"It was Bell, from your first period History class" Aria said trying to avoid answering the first question.

"And where were you and Bell? Because it doesn't seem like you came from math." Lena was already annoyed because she could tell her daughter had skipped class.

"We have algebra together and Bell could tell that I was a bit stressed so we decided to ditch class and go to the beach" Aria responded truthfully.

"Uh huh," Lena nodded, she wanted to be upset with her daughter but she was partially happy that her daughter and Bell were friends. "Come and sit."

"Can I change first?" Aria asked as she and stef made their way into Lena's office.

"Go, your momma and I need to talk real quick." Stef said before Lena could answer.

"Alright" Aria said as she went to go change. Five minutes later she was back. "Sorry" She offered hoping that would help.

"Sit." Stef said, "You skipped class, even after the last time?"

"I just couldn't deal with it, and I needed some time to relax" Aria said as she sat down on the couch.

"Who even is this girl?" Stef asked angrily, "Some sort of troublemaker, I thought we had taught you better than hang out with girls like that."

"The girls name is Bell! She is my friend. The only reason she suggested it was because she saw how stressed out and bent out of she shape I was. And I was one of those girls!" Aria shot back, no pleased on how Stef was talking about her friend. "Lena can even tell you that she is a nice girl" She added.

Stef looked to Lena for some answers, "Well? Do you know her?"

Lena nodded, "She seems sweet, she's quiet, doesn't have many friends, I've never seen her talk to anyone besides today when I saw her talking to Aria. I think she has some troubles at home though, and lately hasn't been doing well in class, she's failing."

"Great, now you're just throwing away your education for some girl who's ditching and failing?" Stef muttered.

"Have you guys seen my grades lately? Im pretty sure she has better grades than I do. And I am not throwing away my education. The only classes that really matter are my art classes." Aria all but yelled.

"Well," Stef tried to calm down, "I don't think you should be friends with her, clearly she's not being a good influence."

"Stef!" Lena scolded, "She's a sweet girl she just seems to have a few problems."

"How is she not a good influence? She is the only person who will talk to me at this school other my my family" Aria replied. "Lena knows her, this was just a one time thing" Aria said as she stormed out of Lena's office and went down the art hallway where she knew her friend would be.

"Aria!" Bell was surprised when she looked up and saw her friend, it was still the lunch period, which meant she should still be talking to her moms. "What's wrong?" Her friend looked pissed.

"Stef thinks that we shouldn't be friends anymore. She thinks that you are a bad influence. Lena is on my side though. I just got so mad, I stormed out." Aria said as she started to cry.

"Oh, Aria, I'm so sorry," Bella whispered as she hugged her friend, "I didn't mean to get you into trouble." Bell knew ditching wasn't a good idea, she had just hoped it would help Aria calm down.

"It's not your fault. and besides I think storming out on them for the second time in a row will get me into even more trouble" Aria said. "I needed that break from not thinking about life, or anything" She added.

"Come on, let's go to class, we'll meet on the beach afterwards?" Bell asked, she had theater and Aria had art, so Bell knew what she wanted to do once Aria went to her class.

"Alright" Aria said as she made her way to her art class.

"Same spot, give me like five minutes after class gets out. Have a good art class." Bell smiled.

"Okay" Aria said as she walked away to do the one class that she actually liked.

Bell walked by her theater class and towards the office, the secretary stopped her, and had no idea who she was. "I need to speak with Mrs. Adams Foster."

"Someone is currently in there." Bell was informed.

"I know. Her wife. I'm a friend of her daughter's and I really need to talk to her." Bell said, she wasn't taking no for an answer.

Without waiting for an answer, Bell walked back towards Lena's door, knocking twice and waiting for a reply before she entered. She saw Lena, looking just as exhausted as she had this morning, and the same blond who she had run into just a few minutes earlier.

"Hi, Mrs. Adams Foster," Bell greeted Lena, "And," With a slight pause Bell continued, "and Mrs. Adams Foster. I'm sorry to interrupt, I just really need to talk to you."

"Of course Bell," Lena motioned for her to sit on one of the chairs in the office, Bell choose the one farthest from the two women and closest to the door. "Stef, this is Bell." Lena introduced her wife to the girl, giving Stef a warning look.

"We've met." Stef smiled when she recognized the shy girl who had run into her earlier.

"I wanted to say sorry, about having Aria skip. It was my fault and I get it if you think she shouldn't hang out with me anymore because of it, but she's my only friend. And she understands a lot of things I've never told anyone else. I'm sorry she skipped, but you have an amazing daughter and I just really needed to talk to her for a few minutes, and I know Aria will try and take the blame." Bell kept rambling, knowing she should stop but she really didn't want for Aria to get into trouble.

"Bell," Lena said softly, "It's okay love, we aren't going to make Aria stop talking to you." Lena gave Stef a look and Stef nodded in agreement.

"Do you know anything about what's been going on with Aria?" Stef tried.

Bell shook her head and smiled, "Sorry, no." It was a lie, but Aria had kept secrets for her, there was no way she was going to spill to Aria's moms.

"Okay." Stef sighed, defeated.

"And Mrs. Adams Foster?" Bell turned towards Lena, "The tutoring would really help."

"We'll discuss it tomorrow after class okay Bell?"

Bell nodded and smiled, "Thank you."

Instead of going back to class, Bell decided to head back to the same spot on the beach were the two girls were earlier, she took her phone out of her pocket to listen to some music and wrapped her sweater around her like a blanket while staring out at the ocean and thinking for a while.


	4. Chapter 4

"Bell?" Aria said as soon as she got to the spot after classes got was no reply from Bell, her music too loud to hear her friend. As soon as Aria saw Bell sitting there she ran up an gave her a bear hug.

"Aria!" Bell shrieked laughing as she tried to stand up and run from her friend. "A simple hello would have done just fine." She joked.

"Ya don't think I already tried that?" She asked plopping down next to her friend.

"How was art?" Bell tried to make conversation, hoping that she wouldn't have to tell Aria that she talked to her moms.

"It was good, I got to work on my drawing a lot more" Aria responded, fully knowing that by meeting her friend here she was skipping a ride home from Lena, and was going to be getting into more trouble because she didn't let them know that she was staying after.

"Do you want to talk more about lunch?" Bell asked, "I'm sure that wasn't exactly fun."

"They just got on my case about skipping class. On the bright side they haven't seemed to notice that I didn't eat anything since breakfast yesterday" Aria said as she explained what happened at lunch. "Or they have and decided to not fight me on it" Aria added.

Bell frowned and searched in her bag until she found something, "Please?" She begged handing the snowflake roll to her friend, "How much trouble are you in for skipping, did they tell you yet?"

"Okay" Aria said as she grabbed the roll from her friend and started eating it. "And I am not sure yet, I think it might be like 3 months now with everything else added on" She added as she continued to munch on the roll until there was nothing left of it. "Thanks for the roll"

"Hopefully not too long," Bell said, knowing that having Aria meet her now wasn't going to help her case, Bell looked around the beach and noticed someone in the distance walking towards them.

"If I am grounded for a long time we can still hang out at school" Aria said, not noticing what her friend was looking at.

Bell decided not to say anything when she recognized the person walking towards them, she figured by now Stef would notice the two girls and running off wouldn't help their case.

"What are you looking at?" Aria asked as she saw her friend looking off somewhere.

"Um, I think that's your mom walking towards us." Bell tried to casually say as she slipped her jacket back on before Stef got to them.

"Shit, You think we have time to make a run for it/" Aria asked as she too slipped on her jacket.

"I think that'll only make things worse. Besides she doesn't look to pissed." Bell said as she started to stand to leave.

"Where the hell do you think you are going?" Aria asked her friend standing up as well.

"I'm pretty sure your mom didn't walk out onto the beach to find me and talk, text me and let me know how it goes." Bell said about to run off.

"If I get grounded then I won't have my phone" Aria said.

"That is true" Stef added as she finally caught up with them.

"Sorry." Bell whispered making a break for it towards the school, she had a feeling that Stef wasn't going to yell at Aria just yet.

"I will see you at school tomorrow" Aria yelled to her friends retreating back.

"Aria," Stef said to get her daughter's attention, "Sit and talk with me for a minute?"

"Okay" Aria said quietly as she sat down on the beach next to her mom. "Mom, i'm really sorry about everything" Aria started as she began to cry.

Stef sat next to her crying daughter, holding her, stunned at first, Aria had finally called her mom "Love, it's okay, we just need you to talk to us. Okay?"

"Talk to you about what?" Aria asked as she pushed her body up against Stef trying to find some comfort within her.

Stef paused, she didn't even know where to start, her daughter's secret friend who she had been skipping class with, depression, the skipping meals? But Stef didn't want to talk about any of that, and ruin the moment. Aria had finally trusted her. "Who was that?" Stef finally decided on.

"That was Bell, mom" Aria said.

"Your friend?" Stef asked, it was the same girl who had come into Lena's office to talk to them just a little while earlier.

"Yeah, my best friend" Aria corrected.

"Why'd she run off so quickly?" Stef wondered out loud.

"She gets shy around adults, and I think she wanted to give us some time to talk" Aria explained.

"How long have you guys been friends?" Stef asked, she felt like this was the only topic that wouldn't get Aria upset.

"Two years ago Bell's family fostered Callie and I" Aria began. "It's kinda complicated."

Stef nodded, it was obvious it hadn't worked out for some reason, that's how Callie and Aria ended up with her and Lena, "And you and Bell stayed friends all this time?" It was rare for kids in the foster system to be able to keep in touch for long periods of time.

"Yeah, I mean we got really close" Aria said.

"Did something happen, in Bell's house?" Stef asked, now she was even more curious about her daughter's timid friend, "Is that why it didn't work out?"

"It's complicated." Aria said again.

Stef understood that Aria was just trying to protect her friend but Stef still wanted to find a way to protect her daughter, from something that had already happened. It was the hardest part about fostering and adopting, not being able to have always been their for her kids. The two just sat on the beach for a few minutes in silence, Stef holding her daughter and trying to figure out how she was going to help.

Bell had run off towards the school when she saw Stef, as she got far enough away, Bell looked over her shoulder to see if it looked like Aria was getting into trouble. Bell stopped when she tripped and fell on her face, before even looking up she was apologizing. "I'm sorry." Bell whispered and then looked up.

"Oh sweetheart, are you alright?" Lena asked helping the girl up.

"Of course." Bell muttered, out of all the people in the school to run into. Bell noticed her sleeves were pulled up and she quickly pulled them down over her hands. "Sorry Mrs. Adams Foster."

Lena nodded, "It's alright. Stef must be at the beach with Aria by now if you're running from that direction."

Bell smiled, guilty at the ground before looking up and nodding.

"Can I ask you a question?" Lena asked and then paused looking around before sitting at one of the lunch tables in the courtyard.

"Okay," Bell answered weakly, she was slowly trusting Lena but still hated sitting and talking alone with her.

"When did you and Aria become friends?" Lena asked softly, smiling at the young girl.

"Which time?" Bell asked in response, "The first time or most recently?" Seeing Lena's puzzled expression Bell continued, "Aria and Callie lived in my house for about eight months. My parents fostered them, Aria and I were the same age so we grew to be friends. And then, when she left, we started talking less until I was walking out to the beach one day and noticed someone sitting there, and we just started talking again."

"Why did they leave?" Lena asked in a caring tone.

"One day when Aria come home from a particularly rough day at school, including two detention from skipping class and 3 phone calls home for refusing to do anything in class my parents were waiting for her so they could talk but I guess Aria wasnt talking so they got really pissed off at her and slapped her in the face saying that just because she has issues doesn't mean that she can get into a lot of trouble. They started pushing her around and hitting her more when Callie walked into the room, and well, you know Callie. No one touches Aria when Callie is around. It got..." Bell paused, why was she telling Lena this stuff, she couldn't trust her, there was way to much at risk, "It just got really out of hand. I was the one who told Aria to call Bill. And the next day, I got home from school, and they had been moved to another house." Bell wiped away a tear, changing the story slightly so Lena wouldn't ask her any questions, Bell had been the one who called Bill and told him that her parents were hurting Callie and Aria. He promised they would look into it, but the state never did

"Did you ask your parents about it?" Lena asked as she made a mental note to talk to her wife and Aria about it..

"About what?" Bell replied harshly, "If the reason that Callie and Aria were gone was because my parents hit them? No, I might be failing but I'm smart enough to figure that one out all on my own."

Lena didn't say anything, there wasn't anything she could say in a situation like this.

"I'm sorry." Bell said again, "Can we start the tutoring for history tomorrow, I really need to catch up in that class."

"Of course," Lena nodded, still numb, not sure how to react.

"Can we consider this me telling my friend's mother all of this stuff instead of my teacher since you know I don't want people to start asking questions." Bell pleaded. Before Lena could answer Bell had ran off and Lena noticed her wife and daughter walking towards her, one thing after another and nothing seemed to be getting resolved.


	5. Chapter 5

As soon as Aria saw Lena she ran up to her. "Momma" She said as she latched on her as if her life depended on it.

"Are you okay?" Lena asked returning the hug.

"Come on, lets get home so we can talk" Stef said softly as she hugged her wife and daughter.

The three got into the car, Aria quiet for the entire ride, all of them lost in their own thoughts.

"Aria, love, momma and I need to talk for a minute, why don't you go in the kitchen and get something to eat, yes?" Stef said smiling softly at her daughter while sharing a look with her wife.

"Do I have to eat?" Aria asked really not in the mood for food.

Stef just gave her daughter a warning look, there was a lot going on already, Stef didn't want to start a fight already.

"Fine." Aria huffed stalking off to the kitchen leaving the two moms in the living room.

"Love," Lena said, she was scared that something was going on with Aria, Aria never acted the way she had been lately, "What did the two of you talk about on the beach?" She asked Stef while taking her hand, trying to soothe her upset wife.

"Nothing really, that's what's so irritating." Stef sighed leaning back against the couch, "She won't talk to me." Stef closed her eyes and took a breath, Stef didn't easily get emotional in front of people, but she was really upset that her baby girl wouldn't trust her enough to talk to her.

"Give it time," Lena said, "You can't get these kids to trust you with every problem they have instantly, every time they have a new problem you have to get them to trust you again, especially when it comes to Aria."

"Did you know Aria and her friend, Bell? Lived in the same house before." Stef asked trying to get Lena to stop worrying about her.

"Bell?" Callie asked hearing the name as she entered the room, she remembered it was the only time she had let Aria make a friend while they were in a foster home. "As in Bell Maclay?"

"Yeah," Stef answered cautiously "I guess? Lena what's her last name?"

Lena nodded, "Yeah, that Bell. Why love, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Callie muttered, she turned to go and find Aria.

"Aria." Callie practically yelled, "Bell?! Really!"

"What's wrong with Bell?" Aria asked as she was slowly eating an apple trying to get something in her stomach so her moms wouldn't get pissed at her for that.

"Do you not remember that we lived there? And what happened there." Callie was screaming now, pissed that her little sister could be so stupid.

"Just because her parents are fucking assholes doesn't mean that she is" Aria yelled back not caring that Lena could hear her swear.

"She didn't do anything to help either!" Callie shouted in her sister's face, "She's just as bad as they are!"

"She was fucking scared!" Aria yelled back.

"Whatever." Callie rolled her eyes, "I'm done protecting you for you to act like an idiot, if you want to let them back in your life just to get hit again, go ahead. I'm not. She's just as bad as her parents, she's raised to be like them."

"You really think that Bell would fucking hit me?" Aria asked. "I know you promised mom that you would protect me, and you did but I think I can handle picking my own friends." Aria said a bit more quietly, before she continued "This is why we kept the friendship a secret".

"Do what you want. We have a family now, throw it away if you want, I'm not going to." Callie muttered before storming out of the kitchen and slamming the front door.

Aria just got up to through her apple away when she started remember the day that Aria was talking about. Suddenly she couldn't breathe, everything was dizzy and she felt like she was going to die. She slowly lowered herself to the ground and leaned against the table as she pulled her knees up to her chest and just starting rocking herself back and forth. Once she felt a tiny bit more in control she put on her music to the one instrumental song that she had for times like these, before everything got worse and the shaking was worse.

"Aria!" Stef whispered rushing into the kitchen after she had heard Callie slam the door, Stef saw her youngest daughter sitting on ground, "Love, look at me." Stef tried getting her daughter to make eye contact so she could calm her down, "Love, it's okay, you're okay now." Stef knew this wasn't going to help so she sat next to her shaking daughter and held her while softly whispering to her and rubbing small circles in her back.

Aria could only make out the sound of Stef's voice, not entirely hearing what she was saying but the combination of that, Stef's hand on her back and the beat of the music her breathing slowly slowed down and soon she was breathing normally. She was still shaking but she wasn't in a full-blown panic attack like she was just in. She slowly took out one earbud, making sure that she could still hear the beat of the music as well as hear her moms voice. "I'm sorry" Aria whispered.

"For what?" Lena asked as she came and joined them on the floor"

"For swearing, everything" Aria answered.

"Oh love," Lena chuckled, "You don't have to worry about swearing right now, we heard everything, even I understand losing your temper."

"Did Bell's parents really hurt you?" Stef asked getting straight into the tough conversations.

"Not that bad" Aria replied, lying. She was afraid if she said yes then they wouldn't let her be friends with her.

"Why was Callie so upset about you being friends with her?" Stef tried.

"It's complicated" Aria said before she continued, "And it's really not up to me if I tell, I haven't asked Bell and it concerns her as well" Aria said as she nibbled on her apple that she just realized that she still had.

"Well, they other kids are out with friends, or doing something. So maybe we should invite Bell over here, and the two of you can talk to us." Lena suggested there was no other way for her and Stef to hear the truth about everything.

"Ummmm, even though I am most likely gonna be grounded for life after skipping and everything, could she sleepover and we could bring her to school tomorrow?" Aria asked thinking that it might be easier for her friend if she knew that if they told she could get away from them for at least the night. "It's fine if you say no" Aria quickly added.

Lena and Stef shared a quick look, "Fine. But you need to tell us everything we ask, or she goes home." Stef caved.

"Okay" Aria agreed as she got up to call her friend. A few minutes later she said that she would be there in like 10 minutes. Her parents were gonna drop her off. "She did agree, and thank you" Aria said hugging her moms. She knew that this wouldn't be easy but she figured it was time for them to share.

Ten minutes later the bell rang and Aria got the door.

"Thank you so much for doing this with me Bell" Aria said giving her friend a hug before they went to the living room and sat across from Stef and Lena on the couch.

"H-hi." Bell whispered quietly looking at the ground instead of Aria's parents. She was waiting for someone else to start.

"Hi Bell." Lena started trying to get the girl to calm down and become more comfortable. "We were talking to Aria and she didn't want to tell us something you wouldn't want us to know, so we're glad you came over."

"Okay," Bell nodded at Lena and then looked to Aria, "I already told your mom some of it." She whispered embarrassed.

"Don't be embarrassed, I just didn't want to share something that you wanted to keep private" Aria whispered to her friend. "What would you guys like to know?" Aria directed the question to Stef.

"Why don't you start with what happened when you and your sister lived with Bell and her family." Stef stated, she started to become a hardass again.

"The house was really nice at first, and then I began to get really depressed and stopped doing my work, and when the school called the first time Bell's parents got really pissed at me, they ended up shoving me down the staircase. Callie didn't know about that, and neither did Bill. We kept it a secret because we really wanted to become sisters" Aria explained and she felt Bell grab her hand in a comforting way, know that going back to the memory of her house was going to be hard for her friend.

"I can tell, if you want." Bell offered so Aria didn't start freaking out.

"Alright" Aria agreed.

"My parents, they got angry about everything, and no matter what it was, it was one of us kids faults. And Aria was their target. She didn't really even have to do just seemed to have an issue with her. It happened every couple of days, somehow they were smart enough to only do something when Callie wasn't around. But one day, they were really bad, I don't even remember what it had been about, I just know Callie was home and they still had hit her, Callie tried to step in once they had hit Aria. I was sitting on the stairs, I should have done something but I didn't. So Callie went to make them stop, my parents had bought her a guitar, and Callie grabbed it and swung at my father. And he swung right back, I think it barely missed her, she seemed fine until he called her a whore and kicked her. After he hit Aria a few more times Callie got up to fight him again. I ran upstairs, Callie had a cell phone hidden, with Bill's number in it, I called him. I didn't know how else to help, and Callie or my parents never found out it was me who called him. I called the cops soon after to get my dad to stop. The next day Aria and Callie were gone."

"You called Bill?" Stef asked astonished, "And told him about your own parents?"

"Yeah, I had to." Bell sounded more like she was trying to convince herself more than Stef, "They were hurting Callie and Aria, I didn't know what else to do."

"You did the right thing sweetheart" Lena said.

"Why didn't you two call Bill before hand?" Stef asked the two.

"I thought that my depression was going to get better, and we really wanted to be sisters" Aria explained now realizing that it was a really stupid reason.

"You're the one who called Bill?" Callie whispered looking at Bell, Callie had come back in the house and heard her moms talking so she went to go see who was there when Bell was explaining what had happened in the past. "You did it? I thought Aria did when he let her go and she ran upstairs."

"She did try and help" Aria replied, still a bit pissed at her from earlier.

"Do I have to remind you..." Callie started before she was interrupted.

"Callie girl, got upstairs I'll be up to talk to you later tonight, okay love?" Stef said to stop a fight, she knew what Callie was going to say, "Do I have to remind you it was her parents that we needed help getting away from."

"I'm sorry, Callie and I were never close, and I'm sure that her last night in my house didn't make her think of me fondly." Bell laughed bitterly looking at the ground.

"Is that all you need?" Aria asked hopefully, "I mean look at the time, I haven't had a full meal since breakfast two days ago, I'm sure hunger" Aria added trying to get her moms onto a new topic, knowing full well that she was going to get lectured about eating, but in her mind if it helped her friend get the attention directed onto someone else it was worth it.

"You haven't?" Bell wondered out loud without meaning too. She was worried about her friend and didn't realize how long Aria had been going without food. Seeing everyone look at her, Bell looked back to the ground, "Oh. Sorry."

"I did have an apple, and I would have like a peice of bread, so its not like I went two days without eating a thing" Aria tried to defend wishing that she just kept her mouth shut.

"Stef," Lena stepped in before her wife could say anything, "Let's go find something to cook for dinner." Lena led Stef out of the living room holding her wife's hand.

"Sorry." Bell whispered pulling at her sleeves, "I'm just worried. I didn't mean to say that in front of your moms."

"Eh, its fine. They would have realized anyways" Aria said. "I mean, it did get them to leave us alone for a bit right?" Aria asked.

"Yeah," Bell couldn't help but grin, "Guess so." She looked down and noticed she was still holding Aria's hand and slowly pulled her hand away, "Sorry we had to tell about all that. And that your sister hates me."

"It's fine, And she will get over it" Aria replied grabbing Bell's hand again still wanting that comfort.

"Your moms seem nice at least," Bell said trying not to stare at her hand, "Though I can't tell what they think of me."

"I think they might be worried about your safety, But also grateful that you called when you did" Aria said trying to figure her moms out.

"I'm alright." Bell lied, hoping Aria couldn't tell, "It's just my dad and I now. But they have no reason to be worried."

"Alright" Aria said not quite believing her but was going to let it drop for now at least.

"Have you really not eaten in two days?" Bell asked, she tried not to think about it but her mind kept wandering back to the idea that she missed a warning sign.

"I have had a bread roll here and there, I did have something at least once a day" Aria said, clearly not know that, that was bad.

"Hey guys, I hate to interrupt your little pow-wow here but dinner is ready and a certain someone definitely has to eat EVERYTHING on her plate" Stef said said giving Aria a look.

"Yeah Bell, you have to eat EVERYTHING" Aria said just because it would annoy the hell out of Stef.

Bell tried to hide the snicker but failed at doing so and glared at Aria for making her laugh.

"I was talking to you smart-ass" Stef said as they made it into the kitchen.

"Really Stef?" Lena asked glaring at her wife for her choice or words.

"Yeah Stef, Don't swear" Aria said

"Please, thats nothing compared to you earlier" Stf said as Lena starting glaring at the pair of them.

"Im sorry that my wife can be childish sometimes" Lena apologized to Bell.

"Hey!" Stef said playfully as she kissed Lena.

"CHILD WITH FRIEND IN THE ROOM! I AM NOW SCARED FOR LIFE! YOU CAN NOT UNSEE THINGS" Aria started to yell laughing.

"Aw come on, your moms are cute." Bell teased her friend.

"Shut up!" Aria said as she sat down and began to eat her pasta.

Bell pushed the food around on her plate, taking a bite every once and a while but mostly watching her friend to make sure she was eating.

"If I have to eat then so do you!" Aria said noticing what her friend was doing.

"Are you not hungry, love?" Lena asked glaring at her daughter.

"I am." Bell glared at her friend in return, gently kicking her under the table for drawing her moms attention onto the two.

"The eat! you don't have to worry about me not eating this meal, I have my moms right across from me making sure I eat" Aria said, returning the kick but a bit harder.

Bell said nothing in reply but didn't take her gaze away from Aria as she finished her plate until she realized Lena and Stef had been watching the whole situation between her and their daughter. Then she realized how awkward it had been and look down at her lap.

"You want a picture? It last longer" Aria said when she noticed her friend still staring at her.

"Whatever." Bell rolled her eyes and got up, "Sorry if you could excuse me for a minute," She said looking at Stef and Lena and not looking at Aria before she left the room and went out to their front porch.

"I'll go make sure she is okay" Aria said getting up glad to have an excuse to only eat a quarter of what was on her plate.

"No you sit, and finish your food. Im pretty sure that mama can talk just as well as you can" Stef said.

"I guess you're right" Aria said as she sat back down to finish her dinner.

"Hey love," Lena said as she pulled her sleeves over her hands in an attempt to keep warm. "Are you okay?"

"Your daughter is a snarky pain in the ass." Bell muttered and then looked at Lena slowly turning her arm over and trying to hide it from view, "Sorry, she's starting to rub off on me I guess. I don't normally swear." Bell grinned thinking of the first time Aria swore in front of her.

"I know," Lena chuckled, "To both those things. When Stef and I first started dating I noticed I was doing the same thing. But yeah, my daughter is a pain, she learned a lot from her mother I guess."

"But," Bell sighed defeated, "I just want to watch out for her, I care and I want her to eat. And she goes and makes stupid comments like that."

Lena nodded, "She didn't mean it. I still don't think that Aria is entirely comfortable with the idea of people, besides Callie, caring too much. She doesn't know it, but she's always going to feel guilty about you calling Bill to protect her."

Bell went numb and quickly pulled her jacket back on, "It's no big deal."

Lean sighed, placing her hand on Bell's arm, "It is though. Aria will be grateful for a really long time. Even though she has a weird way of showing it sometimes."

"Please stop." Bell whispered, she didn't want to talk about it, "I told Aria earlier. I am fine."

"She didn't mean to snap at you," Lena said, giving the girl a quick hug, "I'm glad you're watching out for her, and I'm glad you decided to come over tonight to talk to us. Aria will be out in a moment, okay love?"

Bell couldn't help but nod, this family was so sweet and she couldn't help but think as she sat on the front porch and watched the sunset waiting for Aria to join her that she would love to be in the same situation, a beautiful sunset after a big family dinner, waiting for Aria to come talk many more times.

"Good job." Stef said sarcastically to her daughter.

"She was making me really uncomfortable and self conscious about eating, so I dealt with it in the only way I know how, sarcasm" Aria tried to explain.

"She really cares about you, if you opened your eyes you could see the way she looks at you. She was worried and now she's out on the porch feeling like shit about it." Stef sighed knowing she was being too hard on her daughter, "She's a lot like your mamma, that's all. And I've stepped on the same rake a dozen times."

"I'm sorry, I just really don't like people staring or looking at me when I eat" Aria apologized.

"I know love," Stef said trying not to watch her daughter, "I'm just saying, she was just worrying because she cares so much. Think about what she did, calling Bill for you back then, and now probably having to deal with her parents abuse because of it. Or coming to your mom and I and getting you out of trouble. She's putting her neck out for you, I'm just saying, try and see it from her side."

"Why does she care? I mean why do any of you care about how much I eat anyways? and I know, I will make it up to her" Aria said.

"Because we all love you," Stef sighed, she knew explaining why wasn't going to make her daughter suddenly eat. "Because you not eating, could cause problems in the future and we want you to be here.

"What if I don't want to be here in the future though?" Aria asked as s he tried to get up to go to her's and Mariana's room. Fortunately for her Stef stopped her before she could get in trouble for walking again.

"What?" Aria replied defensively.

"Go outside, I just heard Lena come in which means your friend is out there alone." Stef knew she wasn't going to win this fight and the only person who had a chance was outside upset.

Bell didn't even look over her shoulder when Aria came and joined her outside. "Don't talk." Bell pleaded, "I know, I shouldn't have been watching you eat. I'm just worried." She quickly glanced at Aria,'Just lay on the porch and watch the sunset with me, we can fight about you being a pain in the ass later."

Aria just smiled and Bell couldn't help but smile too as she sat on the front porch enjoying the sun, sitting next to her best friend.


	6. Chapter 6

"Isn't it great the Aria has someone as great as Bell in her life?" Lena asked as she watched the two teens sitting outside peacefully talking quietly. "Hey, Stef?" She asked after a few more minutes of silence.

"Hmmm?" Stef asked as she moved closer to her wife and pulled her into a side hug, her too enjoying seeing their daughter so happy and peaceful for once.

"I know Aria is really sarcastic, but do you think something was wrong at dinner? I mean do you know why she snapped at Bell?" Lena asked clearly concerned.

"I asked her about it and she said that eating in front of people makes her really self-conscious and really awkward when people are staring at her, or watching her when she eats" Stef responded.

"Did you ask her why?" Lena asked

"No, I didn't. I thought I would talk about it with you for tonight and then if her eating doesn't get better we bring it up to her later" Stef responded.

"I feel like if we let this go on for much longer than it will just get worse. She has had an emotional day today, and she has a friend over so I say we bring it up tomorrow or the day after at the latest. We really need to figure out why she isn't eating. I mean how much she is eating is really not healthy , It's a wonder she hasn't already collapsed from low blood sugar already" Lena said seeing where her wife was coming from but also knew that they needed to address the issue before it got even more out of hand.

"I think Bell will be a help too, I mean tonight proved she cares." Stef whispered still watching the two, she didn't want to put the pressure on the young girl but knew that Aria would listen to her.

"So should we address it tonight?" Lena asked her wife.

Stef pondered the thought for a moment, "Let's wait until the get inside, look at them out there."

"It's truly amazing" Lena said as she took out her phone and snapped a few photos of the two and she and Stef made their way to the couch.

"So we let them have their moment, maybe have one of our own." Stef grinned at her wife, "And deal with everything later tonight."

"It's beautiful out here." Bell whispered not wanting to break the moment, she and Aria hadn't said much, the two had just been sitting watching the colors in the sky change the later it got.

"It really is" Aria had to agree, the temperature was just right and the sky was a beautiful color of light orangy-red. After a few minutes more of silence Aria decided to speak again. "Hey, Bell, Listen, I am really sorry about being an ass to you in the kitchen. I was just really stressed out and tired of people bugging me about eating"

"It's fine," Bell tried to blow it off, she didn't want to start fighting, "And I'm sorry. I just, I want you to be okay." Bell rolled her eyes at how she sounded, "Sorry, it's dumb. I deserved it."

"No you don't, I was the one who is always being an ass to people who try and show that they care about me. You were just my latest victim and you didn't deserve that" Aria tried to reason with her friend. Trying to show her that it was not her fault.

"Okay." Bell sighed, she didn't know what to say, and what she wanted to say, Aria would get upset about.

"Spit out whatever you are trying to spit out, I won't get mad. I promise" Aria said as she could tell that there was something that her friend wanted to say to her.

"I just want to make sure you eat, at least a meal or two a day. And I don't know how to help," Bell finally admitted, "That's all."

"I promise I will try" Aris said knowing that, that was the best that she could promise at the moment.

"Thank you." Bell smiled softly at her friend, shivering slightly.

"Come on, lets get you inside, I'm sure that I can convince Lena to let us have some hot cocco" Aria said, slightly shivering herself as well.

"But your moms are in there, probably wanting us to talk more." Bell said, "And I don't know, I don't mind this, especially when the alternative is being questioned."

"True" Aria agreed. She too would rather stay outside forever then go back inside and be questioned more.

"You know," Bell started as she moved a little closer to Aria, "There's really no reason for you to skip meals, look how tiny and beautiful you are already." She whispered wrapping her arms around her friend in a hug, and then realized she had probably made a mistake and went to move away.

"No, don't move away" Aria said as she waited for her friend to move closer to her again before she continued "You see that I am tiney, I don't" Aria said as she leaned closer into her friend waiting for her response.

Bell didn't say anything, afraid she was going to ruin the moment, and she was completely content with the situation. "Ya know, I could watch this sunset a hundred more times from this very porch for years. It's amazing."

"Yeah, I mean have you seen anything more bold looking, but yet so fragile at the same time?" Aria Asked clearly mesmerised by the colors.

Yes, Bell wanted to answer but decided it would be better not to, she didn't say anything and just lay next to her friend.

Stef cleared her throat ruining the moment, "Uhm, girls. You want to come inside now?"

"Do we have to?" Aria asked

"Momma and I would like to talk to you two again," Stef explained, "Besides it is a school night." She couldn't help but smile at her daughter and her friend, "Fine. Five minutes and then be inside."

"Thank you Stef" Aria said, as she went back to the sun and enjoying the peace and quiet she was getting.

After Stef went back inside Bell sat another moment before talking, "Come on, let's go get this over with."

"Yeah, I mean I won't be able to enjoy it knowing that we still have to talk" Aria said as she slowly got up from her spot.

"Hi girls," Lena greeted them as they came into the house, trying to make it seem like she hadn't been watching the whole time. "You wanna sit so we can talk?"

"Sure" Aria whispered as she and Bell took their places on the couch. "What do you wanna ask us now?"

"How can we help you Aria?" Lena asked looking at her daughter, "How can we get you to eat regularly, what you're doing isn't healthy, love."

"Im fine, Like I said before I am just not hungry" Aria lied not wanting to admit the real reason to her moms.

"Aria." Bell whispered softly, "Maybe you should talk to them about it?"

"About what?" Aria whispered back before she said the next part to Stef and Lena "There is nothing going on with me. So what if I don't feel like eating. Is that really that bad?" Aria asked.

"There's no reason why you don't want to eat?" Stef asked, "Or why you keep snapping at people lately?"

"Nope" Aria lied.

"Well what about what you said the other day." Stef tried again, Aria had mentioned depression just a few days ago.

"What about the other day?" Aria asked. "If its about the depression, well its getting better" She lied.

Bell slowly reached for Aria's hand and gave it a squeeze, she could tell Aria was lying, and didn't know what she could say to get her friend to talk to her moms, "Depression's kinda tough to talk about, any more specific questions about it?" She was trying to help both her friend and Stef and Lena, hoping it wouldn't get Aria mad at her again.

Aria just looked at her friend in grateful way. "I'm really sorry. It's just hard for me to get use to people actually caring about why I don't eat and not just yelling at me because it is for attention" Aria explained trying to open up to her moms but finding it extremely difficult to do.

"Well, we understand it's not." Lena said trying to find a way to make her daughter more comfortable, "Maybe, you could tell us what you do when your feeling this way? That would be a good place to start."

"when I am feeling depressed or don't wanna eat?" Aria asked glad to have her friend there to support her.

"I'm sure your moms will be happy with either one." Bell said looking at Stef and Lena. She was hoping that Aria wouldn't talk to much about depression because Bell was always awkward during those conversations hoping the adults wouldn't look at her long sleeves.

"Well when I am depressed I just listen to the songs 'Just one yesterday' by fall out boy, 'f-you' by Lily Allen, or 'A place in this world' by Taylor swift. Mostly I just tend to listen to Just one yesterday by fall out boy though" Aria replied.

"And that helps?" Stef asked, wondering out loud.

"Nope, it just takes my mind off things by getting into the beat of the music" Aria replied.

"Okay." Stef said not completely understanding or believing.

"It's a real thing," Bell said trying to help, "Music really does help when people are feeling depressed."

"We don't doubt it's a real thing." Lena assured Bell, curious how Bell knew all about depression and what helped when someone was in a rough patch.

"Keep going" Bell whispered, still holding Aria's hand, "You're doing amazing love." She then stopped realizing that she had called Aria love, this family had already been rubbing off on her, and she loved it.

"If I get really depressed then I will start swearing my ass off and be really sarcastic" Aria continued. "That how you know it is bad, that and if you can hear my music when you are standing right next to me"

Bell and Lena both cringed a little when Aria swore, almost causing Stef to laugh if it hadn't been such a serious conversation. "At least, we'll know what to look out for now." Stef said, sounding slightly relieved.

"Yeah..." Aria responded.

"It's okay," Bell reassured her friend, "It's gonna help, I promise, them knowing is gonna make this easier." She leaned over and whispered in her friends ear.

"We are here for you love, You can come to us anytime. Even if it is the middle of the night" Lena said as she came to sit on the other side of her daugher and wrapped her into a hug.

"Is there anything else you would like to ask me?" Aria asked gladly accepting the hug.

"Is there anyway we can help some right now, I know you said that it was getting better but.." Stef trailed off, she didn't want to accuse her daughter of lying about it.

"I might of lied about that one, I just thought that if I thought that if I said I was getting better you would leave me alone for a bit" Aria admitted as Lena went back to her spot next to stef after she kissed her daughter's forehead.

"Okay." Stef said trying not to push too hard.

"Why don't we try and tell the truth about it all, so that they can help." Bell tried suggesting, she didn't want to make her friend mad, but she knew this would go a lot quicker by telling the truth, which means Bell and Aria would get some more time alone.

"Okay" Aria said agreeing with her friend "If there is anything that you would like to ask me, I promise I will tell the truth"

"How bad is it." Bell asked before the moms could ask Aria anymore questions, "Honestly."

"Ummmmm, I have suicidal and self-harm thoughts everyday more than 90% of the day" Aria answered worried about her moms reactions.

Bell quickly let go of Aria's hand and put her hand on her own arm before slipping her hand back into Aria's and squeezing it again trying to comfort her. Bell could feel Lena watching the whole thing and she was beating herself up for reacting that way.

"Have you..." Stef's voice broke off before she could finish the question, "done anything about those thoughts?"

"Not the suicidal thoughts, no" Aria responded, suddenly glad to realize that her friend was trying to comfort her. she squeezed her friends hand back.

"But," Stef tried to ask again, "What about the self-harm thoughts."

"And love," Lena finally was able to talk again, "No matter what you say we're gonna help."

Bell tensed up, not sure she wanted to hear the answer either way, what if Aria had hurt herself? Bell would never forgive herself for not seeing it sooner, and if she hadn't then Aria might be disgusted by people who have. Either way, Bell was terrified to hear the answer.

"Umm, I have..." Aria responded scares to see how her moms and friend would react.

"Oh." Was all that Lena could reply, she had been expecting that to be the answer but secretly wished it wouldn't be.

Stef just nodded, "Okay, well. Do you want to talk about that?"

Bell didn't say a word and tried not to move any, she would talk with Aria about it later, not in front the the two moms.

"Do I have to?" Aria asked hoping that she wouldn't, but knowing her moms she might have to.

"Yes love" Lena said, she knew that her daughter needed to talk now or she would never tell her moms the full truth about it.

"Okay, so what do you want me to say?" Aria looked at her moms.

"Um" Stef mumbled, this was new territory for her, "How long have you been doing this?"

"Close to two years now" Aria responded.

"Where?" Bell whispered, she hadn't meant to and hoped that Aria was the only one who had heard her, looking at Stef and Lena they were too lost in thought to be paying attention to the two girls.

"I do the scratch marks on my side and when I tried to cut myself I did that on my wrist" Aria replied loudly enough for her mom's to hear, clearly not getting that Bella wanted this to be a somewhat private conversation.

"Okay," Stef said after looking a moment at her daughter and then to her wife, "Momma and I need to talk, and it's getting late. Will you be okay down here for the night?"Stef wanted to stay and make sure her daughter wouldn't hurt herself but figured Aria would find a way if she was being smothered to get away for a moment if she really wanted to.

"Yeah" Aria replied. "Thank you. Can I just ask one question?"

"Of course, love." Lena had finally recovered from her daze.

"Can you please not tell Callie or anyone else about this?" Aria asked.

"It's okay love, just between us." Stef promised.

"Thank you" Aria responded as she got up to hug them as they made their way up the stairs.

"Aria?" Bell said softly after the two moms had gone upstairs, "Can I ask something strange?"

"Yeah, of course" Aria responded.

"Can I see them?" Bell asked sitting down on the floor, knowing it was a strange request, "I'll explain after?"

"Sure" Aria reluctantly agreed pulling up her shirt a bit. On her right side there were around eight marks that looked a bit brown and scared over.

Bell could tell from her tone of voice Aria didn't want to do this. Bell looked them over, checking each one carefully, then slowly tracing her fingers over them.

After a few minutes Aria put her shirt down. "There" She said.

"Thank you. I know you didn't want to." Bell said gratefully. "I just wanted to check that they weren't too bad."

"They really arnt. They are way worse the first few months. After a while they just become a stupid memory in the past"

"How long ago was it?" Bell asked without realizing how many questions she had been asking.

"Ummmmm, Like two weeks ago" Aria responded.

"Oh." Bell whispered, "I'm sorry for not noticing, and ya know, helping..."

"Dude, if I wanted you to notice and help me then I would have made you sure saw them" Aria responded. "I just wanted to deal it by myself"

"You don't have to." Bell sighed, "I want to help you." After a slight pause, Bell continued, "If you'd let me."

"I don't need any help" Aria denied

Stef and Lena hadn't made it all the way up the stairs before they heard the two girls talking to each other, not meaning to eavesdrop but curious what had been going on with their daughter, and not only her but her friend who they could tell would be an important part of Aria's and their lives for a long time.


	7. Chapter 7

"How are we going to get her to realize she needs someone to help her." Lena sighed, she could tell that Bell was hurt by Aria refusing her help, again. To be completely honest with herself she was hurt that Aria wouldn't let her or Stef help either.

"I don't know if we can." Stef sighed clearly defeated from everything that had happened in the last few days, "I'm thinking that this is worse than she's letting on."

Lena nodded lost in thought, "I think Bell's in a bad place too. Maybe we can get Aria to help herself though helping her friend."

Stef shrugged, suddenly getting an idea of how to help her daughter, "But. We can't focus on another girl when our own baby girl is hurting herself."

"Stef," Lena was surprised with her wife's actions, "We can't let either of them hurt, we have to love and care for them both. And Aria and Bell will be able to help eachother. I mean, today they did something amazing, and somehow Bell got Aria to talk. So we can't just turn our back on this girl."

"I know." Stef whispered wiping away a tear knowing that this wasn't something that she could just fix in a couple of minutes.

"Stef, Lena?" callie asked as she quietly knocked on her moms bedroom door as she slowly opened it.

"Yes love?" Stef was the first to recover from the emotional conversations that had been going on all night.

"Is everything alright with Aria?" Callie asked as she stood in the doorway.

"Yeah love, of course." Stef answered quickly, trying to cover up the quick answer she continued, "Why?"

"She has been eating less, like she was three years ago" Callie responded.

Lena saw an opportunity to find out more about what she had never been told, "What happened three years ago?"

"She was 11 and she was getting bullied at school a lot. She would be told that she was fat, and that she was a pain in the ass and a bunch of stuff like that, so she started starving herself. At that point she got down to 90 pounds before she fainted and had to be taken to the hospital. Of course she was also swimming 3 days a week for one and a half hours" Callie responded as she moved closer to the bed. The only reason she was telling her moms this was because she was worried that the same thing was going to happen again.

"But she got better?" Stef asked, "How did you two manage that?"

"I stopped letting her swim, and would not let her leave the table until she finished at least half of what was on her plate. I also stopped eating in front of her and said that is she wasn't eating then neither was I. She was worried about me not eating so she started to eat" Callie said.

"How long after she stopped eating did she end up in the hospital?" Lena asked realizing that she may have to worry about the same thing happening to Aria again soon.

"It was like three months" Callie replied.

Both of the moms froze, not really knowing how long Aria had gone without eating. "Is there anything else that happened we should look out for, before you guys got here?"

"Other than her almost taking a handful of pills, nothing else that I can think of" Callies responded as she started getting closer to stef. Needing to feel some comfort.

"Come here love," Stef whispered wrapping her arm around her oldest daughter, "I think that's enough for the night." She whispered, both to herself and Lena, no more questions that may upset Callie.

"Thank you guys so much for making this a safe home for us" Callie said as she leaned into Stefs embrace.

"You don't have to thank us love, this is our job as your moms. And we love you." Lena whispered to her daughter as she hugged her.

"We love you guys to" Callie responded.

"Do you want to go to bed, or stay in here tonight?" Stef asked starting to get situated to go to bed.

'Can I maybe stay with you guys?" Callie asked.

"Absolutely." Stef replied without a thought.

"Thank you" Callie responded as she snuggled under the covers getting closer to Lena.

The three fell asleep soon after, sleeping for a few hours before Stef jolted upright and practically jumped out of bed, she could hear screaming coming from downstairs, not knowing what was wrong and forgetting that Callie was in bed with Lena and her, she jumped up and tried to shake Lena awake.

"Stef?" Lena asked covering her ears from the blood curdling screams coming from the living room, "Who is that, what's wrong?" She too was soon up and out of bed on her way downstairs to help.

"One of the girls." Stef called already sprinting into the living room.

"Aria? Love? What's wrong?!" Stef kneeled down quickly next to her daughter.

"Bell." Aria quietly breathed, clearly upset about what was going on with her friend.

Stef turned around quickly placing her arm onto the girls shoulders to keep her from flailing and hurting herself.

"Bell!" Stef whispered fiercely, again she tried softer, "Bell, love, this is Stef. One of Aria's moms, remember? Love, you stayed the night at our house, and you're safe right now okay. Listen to me and focus on that, you are safe. Everything is okay, you are safe."

"Momma, what's going on?" Aria whimpered to Lena as Lena pulled her into a hug, "Stef?"

"She's calming down." Stef replied quickly and then focused back on Bell, the same girl just a few hours earlier who she was willing to give up on, "Bell, love, open your eyes, you're okay." Bell's body started to relax, a terrifying minute or two later Bell's eyes quickly opened and she was gasping for breath, Stef quickly pulled her into a hug, resting the girl's head on her shoulder, Stef knew that Bell would never want them to see her cry. "Shh, love, you're safe now. You can trust us."

After a few silent minutes, Bell lifted her head from Stef's shoulder, whispering "I'm sorry." again and again. She was still shaking which is why Stef hadn't let her go yet.

"Love, why don't you and Momma go make the four of us some tea, I think that would be good right now?" Stef smiled gently at Aria who was still clearly worried about her friend, Stef wanted to give Bell a few minutes to calm down without everyone watching her.

Once Lena and Aria had left the room, Bell rested her head again on Stef's shoulder, "Thank you." She whispered, she had already grown to feel close with Lena, and Bell was slowly realizing she could trust Stef too.

"Do you want to talk?" Stef asked, gently rubbing the girls back.

"Not really." Bell answered truthfully shaking again, she was only just starting to trust the family, she didn't trust them completely, yet.

"Aria and Lena will be in the kitchen for a minute," Stef was still trying to get the young girl to talk, "If that's who you're worried about hearing."

Bell shrugged, "I don't want to burden you with it, really it was nothing. I just feel awful for waking you all up." Seeing Stef look at her, clearly disbelievingly, Bell continued, "It happens sometimes, it isn't normally that bad. I just sometimes can't wake up from these dreams, normally I don't have anyone to wake me up either though. Most of the time I don't remember what the dreams are about."

"Do you remember this one?" Stef asked.

"No." Bell lied quickly as she saw Aria and Lena enter the room, she couldn't burden them with her problems, she needed Stef and Lena to focus on Aria.

"Bell? Are you alright?" Aria asked clearly very concerned for her friend as she handed her one of the cups of tea.

"Yeah." Bell tried to smile as she choked back a cry stuck in her throat. "Sorry." She added quietly.

"What the hell are you sorry for?" Aria asked as she gave her friend a hug.

Bell didn't say anything, not trusting her voice to be steady enough to be convincing but gratefully took the hug from her friend.

"Bell, sweetheart, you know you can tell us anything yes?" Stef said as she too gave the girl a hug.

"Not really." Bell muttered and immediately regretted saying it. "Sorry, I didn't mean that."

"What do you mean?" Lena asked, she wasn't use to people not trusting her and Stef.

"It's nothing," Bell mumbled, "I just meant... Okay. It's just you're my teacher which means you have to report every single thing I would say if I had anything to tell."

"I only have to report it if you are thinking about hurting yourself or anybody else, or if you are currently getting abused" Lena said softly. It pained her to see this little sitting in front of her not able to trust her.

"Bell? Love, look at me." Stef whispered, "You can still tell us anything, I'm not your teacher, and I'm sure that there's a way around Lena reporting anything if you tell her here instead of school." She shared a look with her wife, hoping it was true and she hadn't just lied and given Bell false hope.

Bell nodded shaking slightly, "Okay."

"Come on," Stef said laying down next to Aria and Bell, "Why don't you two try and get some sleep."

Bell nodded gratefully laying down and covering up trying to stop from shaking. Stef and Lena shared a look as one laid next to each girl.

"Coffee?" Stef mumbled still half asleep, she hadn't slept very well on the floor, "I love you so much." She joked pouring herself a cup and giving Lena a quick kiss. The two sat at the kitchen table in a comfortable silence, each thinking.

"Last night was," Lena paused, "Intense. What happened with Bell?"

"Night terrors." Stef sighed, that was about all she knew, "She wouldn't talk about it. She said it happened sometimes but didn't want to talk to much more about it. Maybe we can get her to talk this morning?"

"Okay." Bell whispered from the doorway in agreement, "Aria's still asleep."

"What do you want to know." Bell asked, trying not to quiet down and run away like her instincts were telling her to.

"Well, do you mind talking about last night?" Lena asked, motioning for Bell to come sit at the table between the two women.

Bell shrugged, "I guess not."

"So what happened?" Stef immediately asked.

"Stef!" Lena said to her wife before turning to her daughters friend "Just tell us what you want us to know"

"Well," Bell whispered, "It happens sometimes, and sometimes it's the same thing, sometimes its about things that are going on. A lot of time, I don't remember."

"And last night?" Stef asked softly and looking to Lena hoping she wasn't sounding inconsiderate, again.

"Aria." Bell finally admitted, "Last night when I freaked out."

"What about me?"Aria asked sarcastically, having already heard what Bell had said. Aria then looked to her friend, "How did I cause you to freak out?"

"It wasn't you." Bell practically jumped when she heard Aria, "It was... What happened to you, with my father." She mumbled the last part, not really wanting to tell Stef and Lena about her home life.

"What about me and your father?" Aria asked as she stood next to stef.

"When you left, he needed someone new to push around, and since I was the one who had called..." Bell stopped talking and looked at the ground.

"Please tell me he didn't..." Aria trailed off not wanting to know the answer for fear of the worst.

"I'm okay." Bell tried to assure her friend, and then glanced at Stef and Lena, "I'm okay." She repeated.

"Has it stopped?" Aria asked as Stef hugged her.

"Yeah." Bell lied quickly to get them to stop talking about it.

"When?" Aria asked still hugging Stef.

Bell stuttered for a minute, "Um, a while ago."

"Okay" Aria said in an unconvinced tone.

"Why don't you two go wake the others up?" Lena suggested looking towards her daughter and wife. "And Bell, can you help me cook?"

Bell nodded tugging at her sleeves, "Of course."

"Come on mom, lets wake up the others and tell em breakfast is going to be ready soon" Aria said as she headed towards the stairs.

Lena started in on breakfast, hoping to use the time cooking to talk to Bell, not entirely convinced that her home life was better now, hoping that the progress that she and Stef had made with the girls would continue when she went to speak with Bell about everything later.


	8. Chapter 8

"Bell, love, are you sure everything's alright at home?" Lena asked as she started getting out the cereal and bowls for the hungry crew that she knew would be down in a matter of minutes.

"Mhm." Bell answered quietly, she hated to lie, but there wasn't another choice for her, if she said anything Lena would just have to report it, making everything with her dad worse.

"What Stef said the other night was true, I wouldn't have to report it to the school or anyone if you told me as a friend's parent" Lena spoke softly trying desperately to get the girl to open up to her.

"Really?" Bell found it hard to believe, but most of the adults in her life had lied to her before so she wasn't sure how she could trust Stef and Lena.

"Really, I mean if you were getting hurt then we might just have you spend the night over here whenever you need to, but I won't report it if you don't feel its necessary" Lena responded.

"It's a long story." Bell finally admitted, tired of always fighting people.

"If you would feel comfortable I can call you and I both in sick and we can just spend the day here?" Lena offered as she heard her brood of children starting to make their way into the shower.

"If Aria is okay with it..." Bell answered cautiously.

"If Aria is okay with what?" Aria asked as she came down the stairs as everyone upstairs where still fighting over the shower.

Bell started to panic and pleadingly looked to Lena for help, she was afraid her friend wasn't going to be happy about Lena trying to help her.

"Me staying home with Bell today, just since she had a rough time last night. Is that okay love?" Lena answered quickly looking between the two girls.

"Yeah, thats totally fine" Aria said happy that her friend felt somewhat comfortable with her mom.

"Thanks." Bell answered quietly looking at the ground and quickly looking up to smile at her friend.

"No problem, anytime, anytime" Aria said as she pretended to bow like she just was on broadway or something like that.

Stef walked into the room to see her youngest daughter leaving, after bowing, "What's with her?"She joked.

"Hey love," Lena whispered taking Stef by the hand, "Can you do me a favor and take the kids to school today before you go to work? I'm going to stay home with Bell."

"Of course." Stef gave her wife a quick kiss, "Will you be okay?"

"Why aren't you taking us, why are you staying with her?" Callie practically spit the words staring at Bell from the doorway, "Why do you trust her."

"CALLIE! Please at least pretend to like her. Like it or not she is my best friend. So you really just need to fuck off with all the 'I hate you' bullsht. Its annoying as hell. You don't see me yelling at you everytime you want to hang out with Wyatt" Aria fumed. She was getting fed up with her sister.

"Aria. Callie." Stef interrupted, "Other room. Now." She didn't leave any room for argument.

"Okay" Aria said now regretting the freak out, she just had a lot of emotions bottled up and they just exploded.

"What the hell is wrong with the two of you." Stef whispered harshly, not wanting Lena to hear her once the three had gone into the other room.

"Im sorry, I just had a lot of bottled up emotions and just exploded. Im really sorry" Aria said trying to force some emotion into her voice with no such luck.

"You've been at each other's throats for the last two days, what is going on?" Stef asked, when neither girl answered right off, Stef looked to her oldest daughter for some answers, "Callie?"

"That's because she let Bell back in her life! Aria's being stupid again and she's just going to get hurt and I don't want to wait until she ends up in the hospital, again for her to realize this girl is toxic to her!" Callie screamed, upset at her sister.

"Callie, the only way I am going to get hurt is if I hurt myself. Bell has changed. We are really close. she is the only one who knows everything about me." Aria said calmly still with no emotion in her voice.

"Whatever." Callie muttered, she was trying not to show Stef and her sister how hurt she had been by everything, "Can I go get something to eat now so we aren't late to school?" She asked looking at Stef and ignoring Aria.

Stef nodded and Callie stormed out of the room without saying another word.

"Do I have to eat? Can I just eat at lunch?" Aria asked, just wanting a chance to talk to her friend.

"Go." Stef said, "You need to eat and you know this. Love, we've already been over this."

"Skipping a meal here and there won't kill me" Aria muttered as she made her way to the kitchen knowing she was fighting a battle she already lost. "I will just eat a damn banana or something" she muttered to herself not knowing that Lena could hear her.

"Aria." Lena warned.

"Yes?" Aria asked as she ate a banana just so she would get stef off her back.

"You know what I'm going to say." Lena sighed, "Okay guys, everyone in the car, you're gonna be late." She said looking to her other kids.

"No I actually don't" Aria replied as she headed to the door so she could get into the car.

"Come here." Stef snapped at her daughter who was walking off. "Apologize to your momma now. You've gotten away with enough. I'm sick of this."

"Im sorry" Aria said, then put in an earbud and started listening to Invisible Nightcore.

"We're gonna have to talk later, because you can't keep acting like this to us." Stef said, still irritated but trying to be softer with her daughter. "Go get in the car, we're already late."

"Okay" Aria said as she put in the other earbud and turned up the music ready for another day of just sleeping during class.

Bell was standing out by the front door where Lena had told her to go sit after Callie had freaked out. "Hi." She whispered seeing Aria.

Aria didn't hear her but she hugged her friend on her way out and a comfort to her and as a way to wish her friend good luck.

"Well that was fun." Bell whispered and quietly laughed when she could feel Lena watching her pull at her sleeves and look at the ground.

"She's not normally like that." Lena promised.

"Callie's never been my biggest fan, but I mean, can you blame her after my family." Bell laughed harshly, trying to seem tough but she wasn't like Aria and this sarcastic humor wasn't helping her at all.

"What you said earlier, about a long story?" Lena asked going over to sit next to Bell on the couch.

"Yeah." Bell whispered her voice quaking, "It's basically just the stuff from last night, I guess."

'Im sorry sweetheart, is there anything that you would feel comfortable telling me?" Lena asked as she hugged the girl.

"I...I." Bell kept stuttering, "What do you want me to say?" She finally was able to spit out.

"Last night, when Aria was telling us about her, self harm thoughts." Lena tried to figure out how she was going to ask her question, "You quickly reached for your arm and pulled your sleeves down..."

Bell nodded, starting to freak out, "Mhm."

"Do you," Lena turned to face Bell, "hurt yourself sometimes?"

Bell kept pulling at her sleeves, trying to distract herself, "Aria doesn't know anything. Like anything."

"Aria doesn't know anything about what sweetheart?" Lena asked still looking at her daughters best friend.

"Anything." Bell whispered wiping away a tear, she scratched at her arm, "Like my father or the other stuff." She whispered looking at her arm, waiting for Lena to freak out. Just waiting for something bad to happen.

"Bell, love," Lena whispered kneeling in front of her so that Bell had to look her in the eyes, "I won't tell her anything okay? Do you trust me?"

Bell nodded, blinking away any tears in her eyes, trying not to let Lena see her so weak, she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

"Then I'm gonna do something okay? And I need you to try and trust me." Lena whispered softly, she slowly held Bell's hand in hers, running her fingers over her wrist. "Love, you're okay?"

Bell nodded, still internally freaking out, not being able to say anything still. Lena slowly lifted the girls sleeve just slightly, and instantly saw all of the marks, some clearly freshers than others, bandages still on some. And not just cuts but bruises on her arms too.

"Love," Lena whispered wiping away one of Bell's tears, Lena couldn't manage to say much more so she just wrapped Bell into a hug and held her for a minute, after a few minutes of silence, Bell looked exhausted so Lena walked her upstairs to Aria's room and told her to lay down until Aria got home. Lena stood in the doorway for a few minutes and then went downstairs to get her daughter's friend some food, hopefully before Aria and the others came home. After a couple minutes Lena went to go check in with Bell but she was already curled up asleep with earbuds in and Lena decided it would be best not to interrupt.

"Bell?" Aria whispered as soon as she came home from school. "Are you alright?" After getting no response from her friend she went downstairs to talk to her mom.

"Mama?" Aria said quietly as she sat at the kitchen table.

"Yes love?" Lena asked turning away from the sink where she had been splashing water onto her face trying to hide her puffy red eyes.

"Im really sorry about this morning" Aria said as she got up and gave Lena a hug.

"We've all had a long couple of days." Lena hugged her daughter tightly, never wanting her daughter to feel the same way her friend did. "I love you."

"I love you to mama" Aria said. "Is it okay if I call you that?" Aria timidly asked.

"Of course!" Lena practically laughed with excitement, "Of course love."

"Thank you" Aria responded pulling away from the hug slightly. "How is Bell?"

"She's upstairs in your room," Lena had to be careful, she promised Bell not to tell Aria anything and didn't want to lose the girl's trust, "She's just had a long day and needed some rest."

"Okay" Aria said sensing that Lena didn't want to accidentally say anything that she didn't want her friend to tell her. "Is ste- mom mad at me?" She asked instead on pressing onto the Bell issue. she would talk to her friend later. For now she really just wanted to talk her her moms.

"She's hurt more than anything love," Lena answered truthfully, "It's hard to see your babies hurting and rather than asking for your help, they just lash out against you. You'll understand it one day."

"I just really don't know how to ask adults for help, I barely went to Callie before" Aria said as she and Lena made their way to the couch so they could be more comfortable.

"We know. Your mom just feels like she has to be super mom all the time no matter what the problem."

"Its just hard for me because I really don't know how you guys can care about me all the time. I was in this one foster home when Callie was in Juvie and the mom would just keep telling me that I had to eat and that I had to stop trying to get attention and that I am not helping myself get better" Aria admitted. It felt weird for her to tell her mom all this but she knew it was part of the reason why she was refusing their help.

"That's not us. Okay? We're your moms, okay? And we're gonna help you love." Lena wanted more than anything to go back in time and save Callie and Aria from all the awful homes they had been in.

"Okay" Aria responded. "Im going to go check in on Bell" She added as she went up stairs to go and check in on her friend again.

"Bell?" Aria said as she saw that her friend was sitting up.

"Hey." Bell smiled once she opened her eyes and saw her friend in the doorway, "How was school?"

"Ummmm, not good. I slept during all my classes and refused to do anywork. I wouldnt be surprised if the teacher contacted Stef and Lena about that" Aria admitted. "How was your day?"

"Your moms are going to kill you. Not to mention, you realize that this isn't public school, they could kick you out?" Bell asked, and also avoiding her friend's question.

"Damn it. I forgot about that" Aria responded. "How was you chat with lena?" Aria asked again.

"Yeah so, maybe you should start trying to pay attention?" Bell suggested sitting up so Aria could come sit next to her.

"Yeah" Aria responded sitting next to her friend.

"And," Bell finally admitted, "It was fine, I mean your mom's nice and everything."

"She really is. Im glad that you are starting to trust her more and more" Aria said.

"Yeah." Bell whispered, secretly wishing she hadn't trusted Lena. "But I mean, I don't want to trust her to much."

"Why though?" Aria asked, clearly confused.

"It's just," Bell shrugged, "It's your moms not mine, and it's not like I should trust them anyways, I barely know them."

"Bell, they are giving you a chance for you to get to know them, Yeah they're my moms, but you are my friend so they care about you!" Aria said trying to get her friend to understand that her moms care about her.

"Yeah I know." Bell sighed laying back down on Aria's bed, "I just don't want to deal with everyone when they find out how screwed up my life is outside of just being the quiet girl in your moms class. I'm just afraid of what their gonna think, or what you're going to think."

"Who is everyone?" Aria asked clearly wondering if her friend was implying that Lena would tell the whole school about what was going on with her.

"Your moms, and your siblings. And Callie." Bell laughed quietly, "Clearly, your big sis doesn't like me, I might be failing but I'm not that dumb."

"Hold up, you really think that Lena would tell my family what is going on with you? the only person she would tell is Stef, and thats because they tell eachother everything." Aria responded trying to get her friend to understand that she was safe here and that no one would tell anyone anything that she didn't want shared.

"What about you?" Bell asked cautiously.

"You really think I would tell?" Aria asked.

"Well, I mean, Callie's approval use to mean the world to you, it didn't seem unreasonable that you would still talk to her about everything." Bell shrugged.

"Callie doesn't know about the reason why I am not eating, I do keep things from her" Aria said "You are my best-friend, I wouldn't betray your trust for the world".

Bell couldn't help but smile, Aria was so important to her, and Bell had been so afraid of losing her over some of her own issues, "Are your moms going to want us downstairs soon or do you think we have a little time?"

"I don't know" Aria responded. "Lets just go downstairs and then afterwards we can enjoy ourselves without having to worry" Aria responded as she starting making her way downstairs.

"Wait?" Bell pleaded, "Just five minutes before we go down?" She pleaded moving over so Aria could lay down next to her. "Please?" She begged again.

"Sure" Aria agreed as she layed down next to her friend.

"Sorry." Bell whispered, "I'm just really embarrassed to face your mom right now. I had a little mini panic attack earlier when we were talking."

"Dude, a few minutes before I called you the other day I had a full blown panic attack, there is nothing to be embarrassed about" Aria said trying to comfort her friend.

"Yeah." Bell whispered turning to face Aria and placing her head on her friend's shoulder, "Guess not."

"Come on, lets go" Aria said, all she wanted to do was be close to her mom right now. she didn't know why but that was all she could think about.

"Yeah." Bell said moving away slowly, "Sorry." She whispered, a tiny bit of hurt in her voice but she knew her friend was going through a tough time so she tried not to think about it, "I'm sure they're gonna want you to talk to them again anyways."

"Talk to them about what?" Aria asked as they started making their way down the stairs.

"I don't know, but I mean, isn't that what most parents do, ask how your day went and everything?" Bell shrugged, her home wasn't even close to the Foster household so she wasn't sure what was "normal" interaction between mothers and daughter.

"True" Aria said as they made their way into the kitchen where Lena was.

"Hey girls," Lena smiled at the two who entered the kitchen, "What's up?"

"Hi Mrs. Adams Foster." Bell whispered avoiding eye contact and tugging at her sleeves after the conversation the two had earlier.

"The sky, the ceiling, everything above the ground" Aria responded sitting down in the chair closest to Lena.

"Hey there smart ass." Stef joked entering the room giving Aria a quick kiss then giving one to Lena.

"Hi mom" Aria responded.

"So, since your mama didn't get a reply," Stef rolled her eyes at Aria, "Is there something you wanted or were you just down here because you were bored? Since what's up isn't the right question."

"We actually came down here so we plan our trip to mars" Aria responded smirking. "We just need to see what food we could take wit his and what not".

Stef couldn't help but chuckle at Aria, "Well then, Bell, what's up? Since I know you won't answer like a smart ass here."

"Hey!" Lena tried but knew it was a lost cause to correct language when Stef and Aria were at it again.

"Whats wrong with smart ass?" Aria asked looking at Lena

Lena sighed defeated before going back to what she was doing before the two girls had entered the room.

"Hey, only I can tease your mama like that." Stef teased some more before going over to the sink with Lena and kissing her neck. "Right love?"

"You are just going to have to learn how to deal with someone just as much sarcastic or more than you in the house" Aria shot back. "I mean, you guys just set yourself up for so many things. Its hard for me to catch them all!".

"Wow. You two are so alike it's not even funny." Bell laughed, "And exhausting, you're not even good at it and yet you keep it going." She teased her friend.

"Shut up" Aria said.

"Make me." Bell laughed, enjoying playing Aria's game for once, she stuck her tongue out at her friend.

"Mama, on a completely unrelated note, do we have any duct tape?" Aria asked as she stuck her tongue out at her friend in return.

Bell giggled as she slowly started to back away from Aria, ready to make a run for it towards the front lawn if Aria decided to "make her" stop.


	9. Chapter 9

"So what did you find out? What happened to her?" Stef asked quietly as soon as the girls had left the room for just a minute, she had been wondering when she hadn't heard from Lena all day what had happened.

"Stef." Lena whispered, as if she had been trying not to let any emotion show until now when she told her wife what had happened, "I saw her arms, she didn't say much, but she let me look at her wrists and arms, and that was enough for one time."

"Was it that bad?" Stef asked, she had been expecting the fact that Bell had something to hide after the way she acted when she was helping Aria talk about everything.

"Covered in cuts." Lena nodded, "And it wasn't just that, she had bruises."

"Well that's not uncommon. I mean, some teenagers self harm by bruising themselves, it could have been that." Stef had dealt with enough teenagers like this in her career that she knew what to look for.

"I don't think so. Something about it all, I think the cuts are from her but I'm not so sure about everything else." Lena struggled with what she was trying to say, "I mean, she wouldn't say a thing about her home, or her father, and it wouldn't be that unreasonable to think he may have hit her, especially after everything he did to Aria."

"We'll figure something out, don't worry love. We're gonna help her." Stef whispered kissing Lena's forehead before leading her wife outside to talk to their daughter.

"Hey love." Stef smiled kissing her daughter's forehead before sitting on one side of her

"Huh?" Aria said as she pulled out one of her earbuds and turned down the music after she got a look from Lena like 'why is it up that loud?'.

"Is everything alright love?" Stef asked, she knew that normally, Aria's music that loud meant something was going on, or Aria was trying to think.

"Peachy" Aria responded as she curled up hugging her knees to her chest as Lena sat down on the other side of her.

"Then tell us what's wrong." Lena suggested quietly.

"What do you mean?" Aria asked

"You're a lot like your mom, extremely sarcastic. Which I'm pretty sure means that peachy means, something's gotten you upset?" Lena smiled seeing Stef smirk at the observation.

"I guess..." Aria trailed off.

"So what is it?" Stef asked.

"Nothing" Aria said. "Can I go to bed please?" Aria asked as she started to get up.

"Love, you promised you were going to try, so please talk to us?" Stef tried to keep her voice calm, but she really wanted to pull Aria back in her seat and force her to talk about whatever was bothering her.

"Im just sick of trying to deal with shit" Aria responded as she sat back down scooting closer to Stef.

"Like what love?" Lena asked, the two just wanted to keep their daughter talking for as long as possible.

"You didn't already get an email from a few of my teachers?" Aria asked, shocked because she remembered her teachers telling her that they were going to email Lena.

. "I haven't looked." Lena said confused, "Why?"

"Well that explains why you aren't pissed at me..." Aria said,

"What happened today?" Stef asked quickly, wanting to find out what her daughter was hiding.

"Long story short, not doing homework and sleeping in class don't make a good combination" Aria said vaguely as she moved closer to Lena, waiting for Stef to freak out

"You haven't been doing your schoolwork or homework?" Lena asked surprised, normally she would have known within a day or two.

"Not yesterday or today, no" Aria said. "A I will not do an assignment like every other week"

"Why?" Stef asked, "You realize that this school can kick you out, and that you aren't living here forever so you need to get into college right?"

"I just didn't feel like it, and I would do the assignment later, I would just get the half credit" Aria explained.

"You just didn't feel like it?" Stef asked getting angry, "You're throwing away a chance at a good high school because you just didn't feel like doing the work?

"Im sorry, I did do it, just not on time" Aria almost whispered.

"Okay, Stef?" Lena interrupted seeing her wife's anger, "Why don't we finish this after dinner? Okay, let's all just go take a break it's been a long couple of days." As soon as Lena finished talking Stef walked off without saying something she may regret later.

"Im sorry" Aria whispered as she hugged Lena.

"It's alright love, we just need to find a way to help you." Lena didn't know what to say, even though she had four older kids she had no idea how to help Aria.

Aria just nodded her head as she headed towards the kitchen. "Come On lets get some dinner"

"About time," Jesus mumbled seeing his sister and mom walk into the kitchen, "Mom wouldn't let us eat until you two came in. And I'm starving!"

"Dude, when are you not starving?" Aria asked as she sat down next to Callie.

Stef chuckled at her daughter's sarcastic but true reply, "She's got a point there Jesus." She watched carefully as Aria sat next to Callie but both girls seemed to be okay with each other.

"Jesus, here catch" Aria said as she threw a grape at Jesus for him to try and catch in his mouth. "Score!" she said when he caught it.

"Guys, come on." Lena rolled her eyes at her two kids, as Jesus threw a grape back at Aria and caught it.

"Damn, we are good" Aria said laughing as she grabbed some salad and pasta.

"Come on you two, you heard your mama, knock it off." Stef couldn't help but smirk while scolding the two since she herself was enjoying the interaction between the two.

"Come on Mom, you are just jealous that you can't do as well as Jesus and I" Aria shot back.

"You want to bet?" Stef said grabbing a grape, she threw it so that it hit Aria on the forehead, "Ha."

"I thought you said to knock it off?" Aria questioned.

"Children," Lena rolled her eyes looking at her wife when she said it, "Behave while you have dinner. Including you Stef."

"Yeah Stef, behave" Callie said as Mariana just nodded her head in agreement. She was just glad to she her sister goofing off and having a good time.

Stef waited until Lena stood up to take care of her plate and turned her back on the table until she threw another grape, one at Callie and one at Aria for being sarcastic when Lena had scolded them.

"Mama!" Aria half shouted, half laughed. "Please control mom she won't stop attacking me and Callie with grapes" Aria said as Stef starting throwing grapes at all the kids.

Lena couldn't stop herself from laughing as she watched her wife and kids, "Well I guess we know who's the two cleaning up tonight, have fun Stef. And Aria you started this you can help her." She laughed as she picked one up of the floor and threw it towards Stef. After a few more minutes of laughing the family slowly started to head back to their own rooms.

"Come on!" Aria laughed as she started to help clear the table. "Well that was fun until mama stuck us with kitchen duty" Aria pouted.

"I know, I have five kids and yet somehow I still have to clean." Stef teased.

"Well if you two had behaved," Lena laughed, "Here I'll help." She laughed handing Aria a sponge to clean off the table.

Stef looked first to her wife and then her daughter, "Besides, is it so bad getting stuck cleaning with me? We needed to talk to you anyways."

"True" Aria said still smiling.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier about school, that's not the most important thing right now." Stef was having trouble, she would never let her kids get away with falling behind in school but with the situation Aria had been in recently, Stef found it difficult to be upset over something as simple as a few late assignments.

"Its fine" Aria responded truthfully. "I know I should have tried harder, its just with everything going on it's just hard to find the motivation"

"We know. We just need to find a way that makes its a little less hard." Lena explained, "Your mom was right, if your grades are too low for too long there is a possibility of getting kicked out of school, and we don't want that just because you're going through a tough time right?"

"I know, and I have been trying to get the grades up, I think I am now only failing like two classes" Aria said.

"And that's better than before, but it's still going to need work." Stef sighed out of relief that Aria wasn't being extremely defiant tonight, "And Mama and I can always help if you need it, okay?"

"Okay mom" Aria said.

"Now go to bed, it's been a long day." Lena said giving her daughter a kiss on the forehead.

"Okay, Goodnight mom, goodnight mama" Aria said as she headed upstairs to her room. "I love you"

Both mom's nodded and replied with a "Love you too" while watching their daughter turn the corner to go upstairs to her room.

Aria walked into her room to notice her phone, which was sitting on her nightstand, light up, letting her know that she had a text message.

"Hey. What's up?" From Bell.

"What's up?" Aria texted back.

"I was wondering if you were busy. Or if you could talk?" Bell replied quickly, partly hoping her friend was busy, partially hoping to be able to talk.

"Yeah, sure. What's up?" Aria responded.

"I'm in your front yard, come outside?"

"Alright" Aria said as she snuck outside to meet her friend. "What's up?"

"I hope your moms won't get mad." Bell said sincerely, her face a bleak white shade, and her eyes red and puffy.

"Seriously dude, whats wrong?" Aria said pulling her friend into a hug.

"Just some stuff happened, with my dad." Bell whispered, "I just really needed to talk to you."

"Then talk" Aria said rubbing her friends back.

"He hit me again." Bell whispered again, not wanting anyone in the house to hear, "I don't know, I... just your mom knows and it happened to you before so I just came here."

"Why did he hit you?" Aria asked.

Bell almost laughed, "I don't know why, it's not like it's anything new, I probably did something wrong again. Maybe for just disappearing last night? Not that I imagine he even noticed. Aria, what do I do."

"I really don't know, unless you tell Stef and Lena that you feel unsafe in your house. Maybe I can just have you over a lot? Or I could go over there as well?" Aria said. She thought that maybe if her friend didn't want her moms to know that they should just be together more often so she wouldn't have to face her parents alone.

"No. You can't come over, I don't want you getting hurt again." Bell said suddenly with a lot more force in her voice. "I'll be okay, I'm sorry for coming over, I just wanted to see you I guess. I can go home now though, if you want."

"No, you are not going home until we talk a bit more" Aria commanded. "And I can handle your dad."

"Okay." Bell sighed sitting down, "Can we just sit for a little bit, I can't think about this anymore, it's overwhelming."

"Yeah, Of course, Anything you want." Aria said.

"Are your moms on like super crazy mode after everything they found out in the last few days?" Bell asked trying to calm down from talking about her dad.

"I guess. I also dropped the bombshell on how I am doing in school so that hasnt helped. But we did have a really fun time at dinner" Aria said as she retold the events of dinner that evening.

Bell couldn't help but smile at the dinner story, "I can't wait to have that one day." She whispered laying on the porch to look at the stars.

"Don't worry, I will have you over for plenty of family dinners with Jesus and I annoying the hell out of Lena" Aria laughed.

"Good." Bell smiled, "I just hope one day I can be as great a mom as your moms are, you know? I just really want to have a family with a really sweet girl and forget about everything in the last couple years?" Bell laughed, "Sorry, I'm going off on one of my tangents again."

"Same, other then forgetting about the last year" Aria responded. "There is nothing to be sorry for"

"Really?" Bell asked, trying to not directly ask the thing burning in the back of her mind, "Like the same thing one day?"

"Yeah?" Aria asked skeptically, her being curious why her friend was suddenly being so strange, "What?"

"Just." Bell stuttered, "Never mind, it's nothing."

"Tell me" Aria responded.

"Well like, same as in every detail? Like, as in the girl part?" Bell could tell her face was turning bright red and hated herself for asking the question as soon as the words left her lips, "Sorry." She muttered, hoping Aria wouldn't freak out.

"Sorry about what? And yeah. Even the girl part." Aria responded.

Bell tried to contain the giant grin that spread across her face, "Cool." She whispered, moving ever so slightly towards Aria. "I didn't mean to sound so curious before."

"No, Its fine" Aria replied.

"Huh. Sit out on a porch and talk over the span of a few days and you find out a lot about Aria." Bell smirked making fun of her friend, "Good to know that's all I have to do."

"Shut up" Ariua said laughing and blushing.

"Oh, so you can dish it but you can't take it huh?" Bell continued to tease, she loved to see Aria embarrassed since she was always the one teasing others.

"Shut up" Aria said blushing even more.

"Okay, okay." Bell said trying to stop giggling. She moved over so she was only a couple inches away from Aria, Bell was debating if she should rest her head on Aria's shoulder or not. "I'll be nice now."

"Thank you" Aria said leaning her head on bells shoulder.

"You're gonna be so much like Stef." Bell mumbled closing her eyes for just a minute.

"what's that suppose to mean" Aria asked lifting her head up slowly.

"Just, the whole being extremely tough but beautifully sensitive at some times, and the sarcasm thing. Just like, when you're a mom, I can see you acting similar to her." Bell shrugged, "I guess I'm just tired."

"Go home, Call me in the morning then" Aria said noticing that it was close to 1am.

"I will. Don't get into trouble because of me." Bell said as she started down the driveway to head home.

"You're worth it" Aria said to her friends retreating back.

Bell grinned but refrained from turning around and winking. "I hope so." She whispered to herself.

Aria just sat outside in the cool air cursing herself for not bring a jacket or long pants out when she heard two sets of footsteps behind her.

"Well hey there." Stef laughed sarcastically.

"Hi?" Aria said.

"Weren't you sent to bed say, around four or five hours ago?" Stef sighed sitting next to her daughter, "And without a jacket, you're gonna freeze to death."

"I just wasn't tired" Aria responded. "And I am not going to freeze to death" Aria responded as Lena sat on the other side of her.

"Here." Lena whispered handing her daughter a coat, "What's on your mind?"

"Nothing" Aria whispered.

"You're just out here at one in the morning because?" Stef asked, unable to come up with a witty sarcastic remark this early in the morning.

"I guess" Aria said.

"We know you better than that love," Lena gave her daughter a hug, "You sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"What if I am bi?" Aria whispered.

"What about it love? If you are, you are." Stef said, slightly surprised but not completely. "Is that what you wanna talk about?"

"I don't know" Aria said shivering slightly.

"Come on, let's go inside." Lena said standing up and putting her hand out to her daughter.

"Okay" Aria said. "Im sorry for everything. I know you guys didn't sign up for this when you adopted us"

"Sign up for what?" Lena asked.

"All the shit that I deal with and am dragging you guys into"

"Love, we choose to be your parents. We knew you weren't perfect, but that's alright, that's one of the reasons we love you. And you're not dragging us into anything love, there's nothing wrong with anything you've just said." Lena tried to reason with her daughter.

"I mean with the depression and the bad grades and everything" Aria whispered.

"That too. That's nothing to be sorry for, we aren't happy you're feeling that way, but that doesn't mean anything. It just means it gives us something to work on with you." Stef tried.

"Im really glad that you chose to be my moms. I love you guys a lot" Aria said.

"And we love you. All of you guys." Stef promised, "Now get to bed, you've only got a few hours before you have school."

"And Aria?" Lena added, "Actually go to bed this time."

"Can I sleep with you guys?" Aria asked quietly.

Lena smiled, "Of course love, come on, let's go to bed."

"Thank you" Aria smiled.


End file.
